


Wild Love

by TigressDreamer



Series: Wild Ones [3]
Category: Strange Magic (2015)
Genre: F/M, Sequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-18 12:50:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 24,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18699958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TigressDreamer/pseuds/TigressDreamer
Summary: Their love has been declared and all is right between their kingdoms. But what happens when the unknown walks through the darkness of a moonlit Spring night and threatens the ones they love? Will they be able to save them before it's too late? (Sequel to Wild Hearts. Rated for sexual conduct, both implied and slight.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer for the entire story: Sadly, I do not own Strange Magic, although I do have the DVD that I play once a week.
> 
> *Blush* They were supposed to behave this time!!! Eh, who am I kidding? A bit late for my Beltane deadline but *shrugs* life. Constructive advice is appreciated but please refrain from criticism. Enjoy!
> 
> (Slight edit as of November 25, 2019)

Marianne pauses in her walk and stares at a painting on the wall. It's strange that despite her many times in the archives, she has never taken full notice of the paintings positioned on the stone walls. Then again, that might be because it was mostly during winter and no sunshine could break through the covered windows.

"Hey, Bog, who is this?" she asks.

"Who's who?" Bog questions, looking up from a parchment.

"This one," Marianne remarks, pointing to the painting in front of her.

"That is the Bay King, third from the Firth King," he answers.

Okay. So she knows that she still has difficulties telling the difference between male and female goblins but she's very sure that the goblin in this painting is a female. The dress is kind of obvious and the anatomy lesson Griselda gave her a few weeks after she married Bog cinches it.

"She is female though," Marianne states. "Shouldn't she be queen?"

"Why would she be queen? She is not a mate of a King of the Dark Forest. Bay is the daughter of the Sound King and passed the trials, therefore, she became the next King of the Dark Forest when her father died," Bog explains.

"But she's female," she repeats.

"I don't see the problem, Marianne," he comments. "She passed the trials and fulfilled the royal law of only the strongest being fit to rule."

The mention of the royal law causes Marianne to pause and she thinks back to all she's learned. Her studies on the royal law didn't mention anything about the gender of either opponent, just phrased as the reigning royal and the challenger. Even the insert about a reigning royal's mate being permitted to aid their mate in the challenge said nothing about the gender. The details for the ascension doesn't mention the gender of the heir either, just that the strongest offspring of the reigning royal to complete the trials would become the next reigning royal. She's already learned several things that the two kingdoms differed on, so it shouldn't be too surprising that this is something different as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sort of Dealing With Dragons AU by abutterflyobsession is responsible for the ruler idea. I'd never have known the book had she not written this lovely piece.


	2. Chapter 2

Moving to stand beside his mate, Bog turns his attention to the painting in question. Bay was a very beautiful goblin with her aquatic features and smooth-scaled pale sea-green skin. She nearly resembled several of his present subjects, including a certain female that he'd rather not think about at a time like this, but Bay had several features that distinguished her from pureblood goblins, besides the pale green butterfly wings. The persistent fairy blood had made every one of Firth's descendants tall with fairy-like hands and faces, no matter the goblin blood added to the bloodline.

"Here I thought I had learned everything about the royal law and now I know that I haven't learned anything," Marianne groans, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"What do you mean?" he asks.

"I told you about the difference in ascension laws but I didn't tell you about the difference in ranking because I didn't realize it was different. In the Light Field, the title of king only goes to males and the title of queen only goes to females," she remarks.

"So you won't be King of the Light Field? That doesn't make any sense since it is your birthright, and therefore, you should have the higher ranking," Bog comments.

"Actually, the rankings are the same in the Light Field. It is only a difference between male or female," Marianne explains. "However, should there be a disagreement on matters for the kingdom, the royal-born has more authority and will outrank the royal-married. Also, should the royal-born die before their child is of age to take the throne, then the one who would have been next-in-line after them will become regent and will rule beside the royal-married in their relative's stead until the new next-in-line is crowned."

"That is different than the Dark Forest," he murmurs. "The Dark Forest's queen only has equal ranking if they can pass the trials themselves. If they have passed the trials then they inherit the title of king after their mate dies, even if the heir is old enough and has passed the trials themselves. If the queen has not passed the trials but the heir is not old enough to become king, then the queen will rule as queen until the heir has passed the trials. It's the only time that no one can challenge for the throne since the true reigning royal is not of fighting age yet."

"I guess that means that Griselda didn't pass the trials," she mutters. "Wait, that means that I'll have to take the trials as well. Can it wait until after the infant is born?"

"If you had to take the trials yourself, then yes it could wait until after the infant is born," Bog informs. "But you don't need to or have you forgotten that you've already proved your strength six months ago?"

"Does that even count?" Marianne questions.

"According to the elders, it does count since you did defeat me despite not killing me," he answers.

"Marianne King of the Dark Forest doesn't exactly sound goblin-like," she chuckles.

"You can always use Mom's name for you and call yourself the Thistle King of the Dark Forest," Bog suggests.

"Well, it's too late for me to change my mind about this whole arrangement. I've grown very fond of you," Marianne teases, pulling him down for a deep kiss.

The temptation to do more than just kiss is very high and Bog pulls Marianne tightly against him. His claws snag her clothes slightly as one hand moves up her form to tangle itself in her disordered shaded brunette hair and the other travels down her form to firmly grip her backside.

Hungrily, Bog trails his mouth down the soft flesh of throat, growling at the clothes obstructing his prize. He chuckles against Marianne's collarbone at her squeak as he picks her up without moving the location of his hands and sets her on the parchment-covered table he had deserted.

Her hands are far from idle and their teasing positions on his back make it very hard for him to remember why they should not be doing this. His royal scepter offers them a loud reminder as it falls to the ground and echoes through the stone cavern.

Right.

It's not like their subjects would be traumatized. At worst, it would be some coming-of-age youth that would happen upon them and Marianne would become embarrassed by the loud voyeur. There is also the fact that they need to save their energy for tonight.

"Quit tempting me or you'll be too tired for your first official Wild Hunt," Bog chides, smirking at her laughter as he sets his royal scepter back into place against the table.

"Gee, that would be a shame to be too tired to have more sex after impressing you with my hunting skills," Marianne mocks, flicking his nose. "I'll behave. Now, back to our lesson. Who is Bay King's mate?"

"That would be Queen Briar," he answers, tapping on his carapace. "He's the one to thank for this being added to the bloodline. There's a painting of them with their young ones around here somewhere, of each of the ruling royals and their young, actually. There's even a painting of Queen Mother Elise."

"Firth King's mother? I thought Griselda said that she had died long before Firth had defeated the Zircon King," she murmurs.

"She did but Firth had a painting made. Legend has it that he actually painted it himself," Bog comments.


	3. Chapter 3

"My queen, is there a specific reason that we've been hiding in the archives that you haven't told me about yet?" Bog questions.

"Shh! She'll hear you," Marianne admonishes quietly as her name is yelled again. "And we haven't been hiding."

Bog tries not to laugh as Marianne pushes him farther into their darkened hiding place. Because, yes, there was an ulterior motive as to why she was insisting that they spend the morning in the archives, as he found out when Dawn's voice broke through the stillness. Marianne had wasted no time before forcing him into the alcove where Queen Mother Elise's painting resided and closing the draped curtain.

"Marianne! Where are you?" Dawn yells loudly.

"Huh? This shouldn't be closed," Thang murmurs, pulling back the curtain. "Your Majesties!"

"Thang, close the curtain," Marianne orders. "You never saw..."

"There you are! I've been looking all over for you," Dawn remarks, landing in front of the alcove. "Didn't you hear me calling?"

"Maybe," Marianne mutters.

"What is that suppo...Oh, nevermind! We have to go now!" Dawn orders.

Bog grunts as Marianne grabs his arm and pulls him along with as Dawn grabs Marianne's arm and pulls her after her. He barely has the time to grab his royal scepter as the pass the long table before the chattering fairy pulls both of them out of the archives and through the tunnels with Thang running after.

"...looking for you for nearly an hour and you've been ignoring me. I can't believe you have the nerve to call me irresponsible just because I've been flirting a few times when you do something like this," Dawn lectures. "You're going to have to change your clothes into something more formal. Oh, and don't forget your crown! Daddy said you have to wear it. The same goes for you, Bog. You do have forma..."

"Hold up, Dawn," Marianne interrupts, forcing them to a standstill. "What's going on? Dad knows that we have Dark Forest obligations tonight."

"Didn't I tell you?" Dawn asks.

"You've been telling us a lot and not one of it helpful," Marianne huffs.

"Oops," Dawn chuckles. "Okay, so the Breezy Meadow delegates will be here by midday..."

"What! But they're not supposed to be here until tomorrow!" Marianne protests.

"Well, they'll be here now and Daddy said that he hates having to put pressure on you two about your Light Field duties at the same time that you have to perform your Dark Forest duties but as the crown princess and crown prince, you are obligated to greet foreign dignitaries," Dawn explains.


	4. Chapter 4

"I can't believe the Breezy Meadow delegates showed up early," Marianne grumbles as she sheds her tunic, throwing the garment on the desk.

Opening her wardrobe, Marianne stares at the available garments. She knows that her father would be severely disappointed, though not surprised, if she showed up in one of her tunics. Shocking that stuffy Queen Vesper and her subjects always has its perks but she isn't just a princess anymore and she really doesn't want to cause a disruption during her husband's first meeting with the Light Field's trading allies. Then again, the Breezy Meadow kingdom hasn't exactly been an ally that long.

The slutty dress of six months ago beckons her temptingly but Bog pulls out another less seductive dress before quickly shutting her wardrobe. She snickers as he hands the layered green and dark pink knee-length dress over to her. Seems her thoughts were showing on her face.

"Behave," Bog warns.

"Around Breezy Meadow subjects? Not likely," Marianne chuckles as her pixie handmaidens help her put on the sleeveless dress. "You've met the snobs in the Light Field but they're nothing compared to practically everyone in the Breezy Meadow. It's strange that they're early because they're always the last to show up and the first to leave."

"They could be curious about the new changes to our kingdoms and how it'll affect them," he suggests.

"That's possible," she muses. "After all, the last time any kingdom merged with another was before the great famine when the Fairy Kingdom merged with the Elf Kingdom to become a united Light Field. But it's a bit hard not to be suspicious when it comes to Queen Vesper."

"That's what your father said when we were discussing the upcoming trade meetings and my responsibilities as a representative of the Light Field as the crown prince," Bog mentions. "He warned me to keep an eye on my back if I was ever alone with one of the Breezy Meadow denizens."

"When did you and Dad talk?" Marianne questions.

"Last week, while you went with Dawn to pick up your new outfits from the seamstress," he answers, pointing to the dress she is wearing. "Speaking of your sister, why did it seem like you were trying to avoid her?"

"Because I was," she admits with a groan. "You remember how we were talking about the two kingdoms celebrating the same festival but how they differed? Starting two days from now at the Spring Ball, Dawn will be allowed to accept courting attempts and she won't leave me alone."

Marianne snickers at the groan emanating from her husband. He doesn't know the half of it. Sure, they've been having to deal with goblins that are coming of age too, the horny little creatures, but fairies know how to turn it up a notch. It isn't just the brazen flirting and flashing but the language could probably make even the unabashed goblins blush. It didn't matter that fairies were more conservative than goblins about the places where they have sex because most fairies have absolutely no shame during the Spring Festival.

Shaking the thought away, Marianne pulls her new crown from its resting place and allows her handmaidens to place it on her head. This one is so much better than her previous ones and it's thanks to the efforts of both kingdoms' craftsmen. It was the Dark Forest craftsmen who suggested the polished wood to withstand their queen's roughness, the intricate lines twisting and curling like a briar patch is far from delicate, and it was the Light Field craftsmen who suggested the gold wire that entwines around the light-colored wood, trapping the sparkling white and amber jewels with alluring filigree.

The pixies take a few more moments to flutter around her before turning their attention to their new charge. A new charge that is still getting used to them.

"Stop that! Shoo! Shoo! Marianne!" Bog groans in exasperation. "Could you please convince them that I don't need their help putting on my formal wear!"

She just laughs as the pixies quickly lace-up the light brown cords on the shoulders of the dark green sleeveless vest before hooking the brown cords on the lower front with their corresponding white stone buttons. They meticulously shine each of the white stones keeping the top front of the vest open and busy themselves to make sure the collar, armholes, and wing slots don't snag on his carapace.

Deciding to give the male a break from the fussing, Marianne shoos the pixies away from picking up his crown and places it on his brow herself. Like her father's crown, the broader band only has four amber jewels upon it, the ones in front and back being bigger than the two on the sides. But like her crown, Bog's crown is polished wood with intricate lines twisting and curling like a briar patch, the amber jewels being trapped by the work.

She had been shocked the first time she had seen the crown for the King of the Dark Forest. It had seemed a bit drab for a royal crown but Bog had explained that the crown was worn very little since it was the king's weapon that was the real symbol of the throne. Hence why his royal scepter was gold-overlayed and the crown was just light-colored wood.

Marianne sighs heavily and turns a heartbroken gaze to the place where her own weapon should be. It was a week after her battle with Cu-Sith that the goblin scouts came back with the terrible news. The poor creatures were more heartbroken at just trying to inform her of their find than she was when she held her broken sword after they handed it to her.

To make matters worse, the swordsmith that her father had commissioned her sword from couldn't make a new one for her for another week. She didn't want her to place the work she had already promised to do on hold just for her. Even borrowing a temporary sword from the armory couldn't work since they are all in use during the gathering of the kingdoms.

Bog's hand on her shoulder makes her look up and she smiles at his look of concern.

"Well, we better get going before Dawn's patience scatters like dandelion seeds," Marianne quips.


	5. Chapter 5

Now he understood why his mate had taken to hiding.

Halfway in their flight to the Light Field and Dawn has yet to shut up. Dealing with reminding randy coming-of-age youth to behave is so much easier than having to listen to his mate's sister endlessly talk about the many male fairies that she is interested in and about how they interest her. He nearly laughed aloud when Remus questioned in goblin speech on whether fairies needed to breathe or not.

Good thing that he and Marianne had already had the talk about what to expect for the coming season or he'd be as scandalized as the goblin guards accompanying them over the fairy princess' desire for that many males. He quickly explains in goblin speech to the others what Marianne had explained to him about fairies having nothing against casual courting, a difference to the goblins' preferences to only courting one at a time.

Dax's grunted question nearly makes him fly into a tree and he glares backward to the long-snout goblin. The desire to use his royal scepter to knock him off his dragonfly is thwarted as Marianne abandons her place farther in front with Dawn and joins his side.

"What's wrong?" Marianne questions.

"Nothing," Bog mutters.

"Bog!" Marianne growls warningly.

"His Majesty was telling us about fairies being so casual with their courting and I had asked if you were like your sister. Sorry," Dax murmurs, keeping his dragonfly behind the others.

"Stop growling, Bog, it's an honest question," Marianne chides. "The answer is no and Dawn isn't supposed to be either!"

The loud rough groaning sigh from ahead is a clear indication that Marianne's pointed comment reached the ears of their intended target. Another indication is Dawn flying off away from them, causing the two fairy guards accompanying her to fly faster to keep up.

"Ah! Sweet silence," Marianne hums, grinning at the laughing goblins. "Now, as I was saying, while fairies have nothing against it, it's kind of...forbidden for members of the royal bloodline to be casual in their courtships. After all, it wouldn't be good to have a royal infant that no one knows who the sire is. So a royal fairy accepting courting attempts is the same thing as accepting them as an intended."

"But your sister...," Adder starts, gesturing to the empty space in front of them as words fail him.

"Is the reason Dad assigned married guards to her to make sure nothing happens," Marianne explains. "An older male might have enough brains left above his britches to remember that she is off-limits but a coming-of-age male might forget with all her flirting. The guards will help them remember."

Loud laughter echos through the air as they cross the border into the Light Field and Bog grins as the nearby villages turn their attention to the sky, waving excitedly to the passersby. Some even follow them to the outskirts of their villages, yelling greetings to their crown princess and crown prince.

It doesn't take long before they're standing beside Dagda and Dawn in the Light Field palace's outer courtyard gate, watching as the parade of saddled rats and loaded-down pack rats approach the palace. In his opinion, it seems flamboyant to travel at such a rhythmed and sedate pace.

He withholds a snort as Dawn tries to muffle a yawn from beside him, her jeweled golden circlet glinting in the sun.

"They're like this every year. Can't they see how stupid it is?" Dawn complains.

"They know," Marianne sighs.

"Well, I wish they'd hurry up," Dawn mutters. "I'm gonna be late meeting Sunny."

Bog opens his mouth to comment but stops as a male sprite ruins the Breezy Meadow's organized procession by abandoning his position on a saddled rat to fly ahead of the slow leaders. A rainbow sheen shimmers across the male's three pairs of small clear wings as he flies toward the waiting royals and the long antennas sprouting from his bushy yellow hair glint in the sun's rays from the golden bands adorning them.

"Marianne!" the male sprite yells, landing in front of the taller fairy. "Long time no see! How's my favorite snarky fairy?"

"Still snarky, Vincent!" Marianne chuckles. "How's the Crown Prince of the Breezy Meadow?"

"Terrible," Vincent groans. "Aunt Vesper isn't dead yet."

"Prince Vincent, please remember your manners," an older male sprite scolds, coming up to stand behind his charge.

"Right, right, Sir Thadius, my manners," Vincent mutters. "Marianne, how could you marry someone else?! I was counting on you to help me bump-off the old..."

"Prince Vincent!" Sir Thadius warns.


	6. Chapter 6

"Still haven't gotten married yet, Prince Vincent?" Dagda questions.

"Alas, to the dismay of my poor soul, I have not. Still can't find a partner that can survive Aunt Vesper," Vincent remarks. "She's more cranky than a sleep-deprived goblin...Oh, I'm sorry, that was bad."

"It's fine," Bog reassures. "Although, I must say if Queen Vesper is worse than my mother when she needs sleep then I pity your kingdom."

"You're perfect," Vincent laughs. "You chose a good partner, Marianne."

"I think so, too," Marianne murmurs, grinning up at Bog. "I'm afraid we have to go now, Vincent."

"Do you have to?" Vincent asks.

"We have duties to fulfill back in the Dark Forest but we'll come back tomorrow when the other delegates arrive," Marianne answers.

The sprite prince's cheerful face is tainted by disappointment and Bog pats Marianne's hand that is laid on his arm. He quickly assures his mate that it's alright for her to socialize with her friend a little longer. There weren't many preparations left to do, after all.

Bog takes a curious glance at the gathered sprites, fairies, elves, pixies, and gnomes unloading the laden-down pack rats as he strides through the outer courtyard. It seems the Breezy Meadow is in for changes within their own kingdom if the hints Vincent started dropping after the elder delegates were escorted to their resting chambers are anything to go by. From what Marianne and Dagda had told them about the other kingdom then it can only be a good thing.

In his defense, he wasn't eavesdropping on purpose. It would have been impossible for him not to hear the conversation between the Light Field fairy guard and a Breezy Meadow fairy guard as he waited at the outer courtyard gate for Dax and Adder to retrieve their dragonfly mounts. He had ignored it at first...until he couldn't.

"That's your new crown prince, huh?" the Breezy Meadow guard questions.

"Yep," the Light Field guard answers proudly. "He's also the king of the Dark Forest, which makes Princess Marianne a queen as well."

"So I've heard," the Breezy Meadow guard comments dryly. "It's all anyone has been talking about back home since Queen Vesper received the announcement before the snows came. Kind of strange that you've decided to forget that you were their food."

"The last time that happened was generations ago during the great famine and the reign of two kings after it," the Light Field guard explains. "The goblins of the Dark Forest are actually very nice."

"Nice? You're pathetic," the Breezy Meadow guard chuckles. "Those monsters abduct your crown princess, does who knows what to her before your army shows up, and you seriously think your princess had a choice in marrying that creature? How could a hideous beast like that not resist defiling a beauty like Princess Marianne? Obviously, she was too traumatized..."

Bog doesn't hear whatever else was said as Dax and Adder come into view riding their dragonflies and he joins them in the air. He doesn't waste any time before flying quickly back to the Dark Forest. He doesn't pay attention as the Light Field villagers call out with happy greetings and wave excitedly as he passes by. Even as they make it back to the castle and he dismisses his guards before finishing the last preparations for the coming night, his mind is filled with that fateful day six months ago.

He doesn't even shoo away the pixies as they help him remove his formal wear and fuss over him before he leaves the bedchamber that he shares with his love.

Oh, he knows that Marianne loves him and she knows that he feels the same but it wasn't that way from the start. For spirit's sake, it wasn't until Cu-Sith nearly took her from him during Imbolc that he even admitted out loud that he loved her!

What he told her that early morning three months ago still rings true, it never really crossed his mind that they were forced into this and he had never felt that he was. But the truth of the matter remains and that is that neither of them had a choice in their mateship. It was either mate or kill. Killing her wasn't an option but neither was letting her kill him or he would have let her sword take his head instead of him taking ahold of her nursing breast and pleading for his life.

If it wasn't for the royal law then Marianne wouldn't have mated him. She still would have stopped the army but she would have left with them instead of staying. They might have become trading allies like the other kingdoms but she probably would have rejected his advances had he tried to court her.

Everyone knows it, too. They know that they were forced to become mates and despite how much they love each other, there will still be ones who'll look down on their mateship because of how it started. He's not foolish enough to believe that only those of the other kingdoms harbor that.

Maybe it would be a good idea to...

"Your Majesty."


	7. Chapter 7

"You finally got a son, King Dagda, and as a bonus, he can tame your wild daughter," Sir Thadius chuckles.

"Tame? Not likely," Dagda scoffs. "Bog is as wild as she is. Wait till I tell you what they did the Day of Brigid."

Marianne laughs as her father walks away with Sir Thadius, most likely headed for a glass of aged dandelion wine with Captian Tigler. Turning her attention to Vincent, she raises her eyebrow at the sprite's focused attention on her husband's departing form as he passes through the ivy acting as the inner courtyard's roof and gate.

"He's a good male, yes?" Vincent questions softly.

"You've heard something?" Marianne asks instead.

"More than what King Dagda's announcement said about the circumstances surrounding your unexpected union and it's from former citizens of the Light Field," Vincent admits. "Did you truly make your decision without some...form of persuasion?"

Waving off the growls emanating from Romulus and Remus, Marianne smirks at the shorter male and folds her arms. She was expecting this kind of inquiry during the trade meetings. After so many generations of hostile feelings between the Light Field and the Dark Forest, it would come as a shock to the other kingdoms about how quickly and easily they've gotten along. She didn't expect Vincent to be the first to pose the question, though.

Then again, maybe she should have. The sprite has been more of an elder brother to her since the day they met when he was three-autumns-old and she was one-spring-old.

"I'm sure they told you all about my 'heroic' action in flying off to save my sister but here's what they didn't tell you because they didn't know. I fought Bog half-naked and nearly killed him but when he got the advantage, he didn't take advantage of me," Marianne explains. "Because my dress was damaged in the fight and I was on the verge of winter-chill, he wrapped me in his cloak that he needed and kept me close to his body to keep me warm. Yes, he did put me in his bed but that was because he knew that his bedchambers would be warm and yes, he did join me in his bed but that was at the insistence of the master healer because he had put himself at risk for winter-chill. He had only gone to sleep and did not touch me inappropriately. The only form of persuasion I dealt with is a law in the Dark Forest that forced a choice between actually killing him or getting married to him. Finding out that he is very honorable made killing him not an option. Truthfully, had that law not even been a problem, I would have courted him myself."

"That's all I needed to know," Vincent remarks. "I figured they were telling a tall tale when they painted you as in distress and traumatized but you know Vesper, she's been trying to break up this alliance since mother agreed to it. She's gotten more vocal about now that King Dagda proposed in his letter to include the Dark Forest in the trade alliance."

"So that's why you arrived early," Marianne comments. "I figured that she was probably trying something."

"That something is any excuse to keep me from taking my rightful place on the throne," Vincent mutters, looking around for eavesdroppers before continuing. "I found a law hidden in the old archives that can bypass the royal law that only a married royal can be the ruler of the Breezy Meadow. Since Vesper isn't a royal by blood, has no royal blood offspring of her own, and her partner is no longer alive, she doesn't have true claim to the throne. That leaves the Breezy Meadow without a ruler and in that circumstance, the next-in-line can take the throne without being married even if they're not of age. She knows it and I think she knows that I know."

"So what do you thi...," Marianne starts before a loud commotion rings out.

The two royals quickly head out to the outer courtyard with the goblin guards following diligently. Spotting the source of the commotion, Marianne growls out a groan before sighing and taking flight toward the fighting guards.

"That's enough! Stand down now!" Marianne orders.

The Light Field fairy guard is quick to obey but Marianne grabs the fist of the Breezy Meadow fairy guard when he tries to land a cheap shot on his opponent. She nearly laughs as the Breezy Meadow guard's eyes widen dramatically when he tries to remove his fist from her hand and can't.

Weakling.

"Explain the meaning of this!" Marianne demands.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness. It's my fault. I lost my temper and threw the first punch," the Light Field guard admits.

Marianne's urge to laugh intensifies at the Breezy Meadow guard's look of astonishment as the Light Field guard removes their helmet to reveal that the guard is a female, the glamour dissipating and causing the black and white androgynous wings to turn back into her true black-spotted pink butterfly wings. It seems that it is this particular guard's first trip to the Light Field if he didn't know about their camouflage tactic.

Both guards avoid her and Vincent's questioning about what started the fight and the witnesses also keep silent. With a sigh, Marianne orders them both to be confined in the barracks for the rest of the day.

"See if you can find out what happened, Vincent. I have to get back to the Dark Forest," Marianne comments, chuckling as Romulus and Remus quickly run off to retrieve their dragonflies.

"They're excited," Vincent notes, joining her laughter.

"The Mid-Spring Wild Hunt is a very big deal to Dark Forest courting goblins. Prospective mates pair up and hunt together to gauge how well they'll fit together. If the hunt goes well, then they'll make an announcement accepting each other as mates at the mating ceremony during the Beltane festival, which is at sunset the day after tomorrow," Marianne explains.

"Really? They don't have individual bonding ceremonies?" Vincent asks.

"No. They only become mates during a mating ceremony either during Beltane or during Lughnasa at mid-summer. Bog and I are unique," Marianne chuckles.


	8. Chapter 8

Romulus and Remus waste no time in abandoning their duties as the queen's guards once they land in the Dark Forest castle's courtyard, both eager to find their prospective courts and prepare for the full moon's rising. She's going to have to find new guards once the pair announce their mateship on Beltane. Sure, they both expressed their wishes to continue being the queen's guards once they fulfill the newly-mateship laws but with how Remus and Kyanite have been acting, it won't take long before the female goblin is expecting her own infant.

Marianne chuckles as Junco interrupts her trek to the royal bedchambers and pulls her to the kitchen instead. Once the news was out about the infant, the master healer had made it her highest priority to make sure Marianne had the best of care and she nearly rivaled Griselda in her fussing over the expecting mother. Especially once Cu-Sith's announcement was confirmed several days later when they realized that Marianne's wings had stopped reflecting light, a clear indication to a fairy's pregnant state.

"I don't care if it's traditional for participants of the mateship hunts to not eat dinner, you are eating something," Junco orders, taking a bowl of stew from Nex and setting it on a small table.

She obediently obeys the master healer's orders and hums in delight at the first bite before greedily devouring the rest. The customary lunch with the arriving guests wasn't very satisfying, even with the winter apple tarts Joshua had brought later. Not even to the full quarter mark of her pregnancy yet and she is already unsatisfied with her usual amount of food. Bog might be correct on an early infant.

Thanking and complimenting the blushing chef, Marianne heads off to find her husband first. There was still some time left before she had to get ready.

It was not her intention to eavesdrop. All she was doing was trying to find Bog and let him know that she is back, maybe get in a few cuddles and kisses before they had to fulfill their duties. When she heard his voice, she immediately went toward him without even realizing that he was talking to another...until she got close enough to hear the soft speech and notice the smaller figure past him.

She probably should have just continued walking to the end of the corridor but overhearing her name being spoken, she couldn't help moving into the adjoining corridor before either noticed her presence. It felt embarrassing to walk into a conversation that she knew was about her. At the same time, she couldn't help but be curious what the female goblin said that got Bog all growly.

"I was only saying that it's not a good idea to take Queen Marianne on a mateship hunt," the female goblin defends.

Peering around the corner to get a better look, Marianne recognizes the other female as Yemma and she nearly gives herself away with a hum of confusion. The few times that she had interacted with Adder's elder sister, the goblin was always calm and quiet but here she is nearly growling at the taller goblin king.

Maybe not so surprising, actually.

There were several mothers who had voiced their concerns over their pregnant queen taking part in the Mid-Spring Wild Hunt when Bog questioned the elders about them being allowed to participate instead of just overseeing. They were easily appeased when Bog explained that he wanted to give her the experience that they had missed in their courtship because of the necessity of becoming mates on Samhain.

It took three days before Bog's blush faded from all the females' cooing and Griselda was prouder than usual for a whole week from all the compliments given to her about how she raised such a good son.

"Marianne is strong enough for the hunt," Bog states firmly.

"Her Majesty may be strong and all but you don't know how she hunts," Yemma comments. "That is if she can even hunt. She is a fairy princess, after all. You'll be the laugh of the kingdom if you can't bring back a kill by moon-down. Do you really want to subject yourself to the humiliation of her failing..."

Whatever else is said, Marianne doesn't bother to hear as she quickly but quietly makes her way to the royal bedchambers. The sting of tears forming in her amber eyes is rubbed at with the heel of her hand but the persistent water still makes it past her attempts to stop them. She ignores the pixies fussing as they swarm her once she enters her bedchambers and shuts the door behind her.

"I'm alright," Marianne assures at their concerned hums.

Smiling broadly at their skeptical looks, she nearly laughs at the three glares directed at her, complete with crossed arms, hands on hips, and a pointed finger.

"No, seriously, I'm fine," Marianne insists. "Now, did you get my hunting attire out and inspect it to make sure that it's still good?"

This time she has to hold back her laughter at the three looks of panic as the pixies rush to open the wardrobe and pull out a parcel from underneath the false floor. They quickly inspect the objects before breathing a sigh of relief and help her change into the stiffer clothes.

Marianne lets her mind drift back to what she overheard. At first, she had felt hurt by the female goblin's harsh words, that Yemma was sure that she would fail Bog. She almost fell back into that problem she had three months ago of feeling that she was being rejected as Queen of the Dark Forest.

By the spirits, these pregnancy emotions are horrible!

She knows how important both mateship hunts are to the Dark Forest. Griselda and the elders had made sure that she knew everything she needed to know, so as to avoid a repeat of the 'Imbolc misunderstanding'. Therefore, she is also fully aware of the significance of a failed hunt.

She was just so excited and so flattered that he wanted them both to participate in the mateship hunt despite them not needing to that she didn't stop to remember that they've never hunted together before. She didn't think about how bad it would look for Bog if they have trouble during the Mid-Spring Wild Hunt.

She just can't let Bog down.


	9. Chapter 9

Bog's harsh growling sends several goblins scattering as he stalks to the courtyard. He couldn't believe Yemma! How dare she have the audacity to insult Marianne! She hadn't wasted any time when she approached him and bluntly told him that he was making a mistake, just as he did twelve springs ago.

The reminder had already put him in a bad mood and when she answered his question by stating that hunting with Marianne is the mistake, he growled at her for the first time ever. She tried to defend herself when he warned her about disrespecting his mate but her defense was only more insults that nearly got her hit with his royal scepter.

He has full confidence that he and Marianne will have a successful hunt and he told Yemma that. Besides, they weren't hunting to gauge how compatible they'll be as mates but because he wanted Marianne to experience everything of the Dark Forest. They were already mates, for spirit's sake, so he didn't care if unmated goblins viewed them unfavorably for failing a hunt. He has no desire to have another mate and he'll rip apart the first male that sniffs too close to Marianne, that is if she leaves anything left of the other male for him to attack.

Bog growls louder at the reminder of Yemma's last comment. It was a good thing Adder was looking for his sister and came upon them in time to hear his sister's disrespect or Bog would have forgotten that she was a nursing female.

"Relax your thorax! You're sending everyone into a tizzy," Griselda chides, walking up to him. "What's got you so agitated?"

"Have you talked to Yemma?" Bog questions instead.

"Not lately," Griselda admits. "The poor thing has been keeping to herself a lot. What does this have to do with your attitude?"

"She was talking to me about Marianne and how I shouldn't take her on the mateship hunt," Bog answers.

"She's just concerned like the rest of us about Marianne and the infant. Nothing to get all upset about," Griselda soothes.

"This wasn't about being concerned about Marianne being pregnant," Bog snarls. "First, Yemma had the audacity to insinuate at Marianne being unable to truly support me as a mate and then she felt the need to not only remind me of the consequences of a failed hunt but she also had the nerve to suggest that I reinstate the Topaz King's ridiculous law and take a goblin mate since my infant with Marianne will be too weak from the added fairy blood to be able to complete the trials."

"She said what?" Griselda growls.

"Fortunately, Adder was looking for her and kept me from doing something that I'd regret later," Bog admits. "I got over her rejection a long time ago but hearing her say that fairies and halfling-bloods would never be as good as a true goblin, I just..."

Griselda reaches up and lays her hand on her son's arm as his claws scratch against his royal scepter and he growls out his anger. Despite seven generations of halfling-bloods being king, there are still a few pure-blood families in the Dark Forest that looked down on those from mixed origins.

"Your Majesty," Adder murmurs.

Bog looks over at the timid call and relaxes his posture at Adder's cowering form to assure him that he won't take his anger out on him. No doubt the male is worried that he'll lose his position on the royal guard because of his sister's comment.

"Yemma doesn't mean it, Your Majesty," Adder insists.

"Her disrespect to my mate, her queen, is inexcusable," Bog states. "Queen Marianne has earned the respect due to her and I will not..."

Bog's words are lost as Marianne walks into the courtyard. He would take solace in the fact that he isn't the only one in the courtyard gaping at her in astonishment but he couldn't tear his eyes off her alluring form to even notice the gathered goblins.

"Lit...little thistle...," Griselda stammers.

"What? These are my hunting clothes," Marianne gestures. "Are they not...appropriate?"

Appropriate?

For his self-control?

No.

Here he thought that that dress she wore during Samhain was tempting but this...well if they weren't already mates, he'd make sure that they would be in a very short amount of time!

Bog can't stop his eyes from roaming her length. The rough grey and black material fits her much like her normal attire, a sleeveless high-collared tunic with leggings and high boots. The simple black spaulders that cover her shoulders with straps that cross her chest, the simple black vambraces that cover both forearms, and the black belt around her waist are of the same material as her clothing. An unmistakable material with an unmistakable pattern, viper snake-leather.

As if seeing her wearing the great predator's pride isn't enough to stir his desire to its peak, glinting in the setting sun, two daggers adorn her hip where her sword should be. A set of six knives glint from their position on the left spaulder's cross-strap and both thighs support a set of three knives strapped around them.

She's magnificent!


	10. Chapter 10

"We are supposed to be hunting," Marianne chides with a giggle.

"I caught my prey, my tempting fairy queen," Bog chuckles.

Marianne's response is caught off with a moan as Bog suckles hard on her breast, his sharp teeth sending jolts through her form as his claws rake teasingly on her side before gently but firmly tugging onto her wing spines. She might be a bit confused how this turned out but she is definitely not complaining as her body starts to sing once more for her lover.

All she knows is that she walked into the courtyard for the start of the Mid-Spring Wild Hunt and everyone was shocked by her attire. She had thought that maybe she had inadvertently offended them by wearing it. But before she could panic, Stuff broke the silence by asking, while poking the resilient tunic with a claw, which kingdom they traded with for snake-leather and if they would be willing to trade with goblins.

So she explained that the snake-leather wasn't traded but they had killed him two springs ago when he targeted one of the brownie villages and resisted their usual attempts at directing him away. It had taken four leathersmiths to turn the large snakeskin into leather. The brownie craftsman from the saved village turned some of the leather into this as a gift to her since she had seen the snake first and had struck the killing blow.

Maybe if Elder Babba hadn't broken through the new silence with the call for all participants to gather, Marianne might have noticed the hungry look her husband was gazing heatedly at her with. She might not have been caught off guard when they reached the hunting glade. Bog had waited only long enough to sound the Wild Hunt's call at the moon's rise before grabbing her and heading toward a niche at the base of a briar-surrounded tree.

At least Bog had the presence of mind to remove her weapons before he lowered her to the mossy floor but that was it. The impatient male didn't bother to remove her clothes, just pushed her tunic up to expose her breasts to his greedy mouth and pulled her leggings down enough to give him entrance. As if his lustful attentions weren't enough for her, the ragged praise of her sounding out from his mouth made it impossible for her to last long and he's quick to follow.

The brief rest doesn't last long but their second round is far less rushed, though no less passionate. This time, Bog pulls himself from her satisfied body before cleaning her up and setting her clothes right. Blue eyes gleam with unrestrained smugness at her in the moonlit darkness as he curls his form around her and soft laughter rings out when she smacks his chest.

Cocky male.


	11. Chapter 11

Marianne yawns before slowly opening her eyes with a groan. She must have fallen asleep.

"I'm sorry, Bog. I didn't mean to go to sleep and ruin our hunt," Marianne murmurs as she sits up. "Bog? Bog!"

Looking around the empty niche, she curls in on herself as a touch of fear creeps into her as she stares at the briar patch in front of the niche. She hasn't been alone while outside the castle for three months and she can't help as her mind drifts back to that terrifying day.

What if the death hound returned?

Without her sword, she's at more of a disadvantage than last time. She won't be able to hold off the beast with only her knives and daggers. She couldn't even flee because that would leave her people defenseless and at Cu-Sith's mercy.

What if it brought one of its brethren with it this time?

Cu-Sith was hard enough to fight but one of the other fae dogs would be impossible to escape. She won't have a chance against more death hounds. If someone came to rescue her, they would die.

What if Bog...

"Marianne?" Bog calls worriedly.

Marianne turns her gaze as Bog finishes flying between the briars and heads toward her. The tears filling her eyes blur her vision slightly and she can't help flinching away as Bog reaches out to touch her. Tears fall faster as he recoils at her rejection.

"Marianne! Why are...oh," Bog mutters before groaning and kneeling before her. "I'm so sorry, Marianne! I didn't think. It's me, I swear. You can even hit me to prove it."

She chuckles waterily at his offer and instead reaches out to cradle his face with both her hands, the emotional blue eyes staring at her is all the proof she needs of his validity. This time she welcomes his touch as he reaches out to her and pulls her against his chest, the rhythm of his strong heart offering her more proof.

"I'm so sorry," he repeats. "I didn't think about what would happen if you woke while I was gone. After I woke and found you sleeping so peacefully, I just didn't want to disturb you."

"Where'd you go?" she questions.

"Flew around to make sure no one got into any trouble. Don't worry, everyone is fine," Bog reassures. "A few have already caught their kill and are doing their own celebrating."

"We celebrated early," Marianne chuckles. "How long was I asleep?"

"Not long. Here eat some of this," he suggests, pulling a small loaf of bread from the satchel he brought with him and handing it to her. "Nex had it packed for you. He said Junco had you eat something when you returned but he was concerned about how quick you ate it and wanted to make sure you had something available when you get hungry during the hunt. You still want to hunt, right? You're not too tired, are you? I didn't mean to pounce on you like that but you were so beautiful and tempting and..."

Marianne rolls her eyes at her fretting husband and smirks as she tears off half of the bread and stuffs it in his mouth. She makes a mental note to thank Nex for his thoughtful idea as she finishes the rest of her half before drinking some of the blackberry juice that was packed as well. She really was hungry. She reaches out for the other small loaf of bread in the satchel but holds back instead.

"If you're hungry then you should eat," Bog remarks, finishing the piece she used to shut him up.

"I don't want to eat too much and make it hard for me to hunt, so we'll eat it later," she comments.

"You'll eat it later," he corrects.

She chuckles at him before grabbing one of the daggers and checking her appearance in the polished steel. Nodding in satisfaction once she puts her bilberry eye-makeup and hair to rights, Marianne quickly straps all her blades back into place and stretches out her wings. The briar patch is too narrow for her to fly through and she relaxes in Bog's hold as he flies the both of them through the prickly maze.

They might need to save this place for a later rendezvous spot. Bog's dark chuckling as she voices her thoughts is all she needs to know of his opinion.


	12. Chapter 12

A quick strike with his royal staff is all it takes to put the injured mouse out of its pain and Bog reaches down to pull out the thrown knives from its dead body. He was impressed by Marianne's vague tale of killing a viper but to actually see her in action is a whole other thing.

They had spotted their prey quickly after returning the satchel to the hunting glade burrow and had maneuvered themselves to ambush it when it bolted. He had feared they would have to find another prey but flying silver put the animal's fast speed down to a limp and another strike kept the animal from reaching its escape tunnel.

Bog is glad they had already discussed that Marianne would only attack from afar because the brown and white mouse may have been unable to move the rest of its body but its teeth were still poised for attack when he approached.

"Not much of a prize, is it?" Marianne murmurs dejectedly.

"What do you mean it's not much of a prize? I doubt there's one other pair who managed to get a mouse, especially a nice one like this male," Bog comments, handing her knives back to her. "There isn't much damage to the coat thanks to how precise your attack was. You just might have to fight Mom over who's keeping the fur."

"You're being very proud over a mouse," she mutters.

"You're being very disappointed over a mouse," he counters. "It may be different in the Light Field but catching a wild mouse in the Dark Forest is a great achievement for a single or paired hunter. They'll be singing our praises come moon-down."

"For a mouse? But there isn't much meat on it. I figured a hedgepig would be a greater prize," Marianne comments.

"Hedgepigs are slower and easier for a paired hunter to take down and their fur isn't valued as much. Mice are harder to catch even for a group of hunters and its fur is valuable but it's tricky not to damage the fur when trying to kill it," Bog explains. "Plus, this breed of mouse has a tendency to sneak into the bat stables and make a meal out of them while they're hibernating. It's why we post guards there during the winter so they..."

Bog turns his head toward the nearby screams and wastes no time taking to the air with Marianne beside him. It doesn't take him long to find the source of the screams, two small young goblins running as fast as their legs can carry them but it's what is chasing them, barreling through the brush, that makes a shiver run through him.

"Bog, what is that?" Marianne questions breathlessly.

"I...I don't know," he mutters. "I've never seen a lizard that big before."

"We have to get them out of there. You're faster. Do you think you can carry them?" she asks.

"I can but only one at a time," Bog answers, pushing his wings to fly faster. "It'll be a lot easier to fight that thing."

"You can't fight it alone and I don't have my sword," Marianne reminds. "There's no telling how tough its skin is, so my daggers might not work and if I throw a knife, it might hit those two. I'll distract it."

Bog nods reluctantly. It's obvious the youths won't last much longer as the female stumbles and the large lizard gets closer to them. As much as he doesn't like putting Marianne in the least bit of danger, they need to get the pair out of there.

Readying his royal staff, Bog flies near the beast and slams the metal against its snout before flying ahead and grabbing the lagging young female. Diana whimpers her worry over her prospective mate but Bog grunts reassurances before setting her on a branch and flying back for the tiring young male.

He urges his wings to fly faster as the youth just misses being bitten by the reptile, Marianne's distraction efforts not bothering its speed. The glint of steel and a familiar rage-filled roar is all the warning he gets.


	13. Chapter 13

Marianne growls in frustration as the large lizard ignores the stone and acorns she throws at it. She can see that the small goblin is tiring but Bog is too far away. She decides to take a chance and flies faster to keep up with the lumbering beast.

Maybe she can try using one of her knives. If she's right alongside it, then there shouldn't be any chance of hitting th...

Her heart plummets as the lizard snaps its jaws and she nearly falters in the air at fear and despair flooding her being until she sees the small goblin stumble into view before running again. Marianne draws her dagger and screams her rage at the beast.

Lizzie stumbles as the annoying creature grabs one of the spines on her head and pulls hard. She squeals and shakes her head furiously to dislodge the intruder but the tenacious thing stays on. She growls as she notices the other flying creature grabbing her prey and flying it out of her reach as it did with the other. One last shake dislodges the pest on her head and Lizzie growls her anger at it as she turns her attention onto it since it landed on the ground.

Marianne grips her dagger as the large lizard glares at her. She may not have been able to test her blade on its skin but she's sure the beast's eye would make a good target. Giving a loud growl of her own, Marianne blinks as the lizard's eyes widened and it sniffles before clambering away with a whimper.

That was a bit anticlimactic.

Oh, but there is no way she is letting that lizard go after it tried to make a meal out of her subjects!

Flapping her wings, Marianne takes to the air again and flies in front of the retreating reptile. Her dagger is poised for a strike and she scowls at the beast before her.

"You listen here, lizard! If you think I'm going to let you eat my people, you've got another thing coming," Marianne growls. "These are my lands!"

Lizzie blinks as the creature starts talking. It may sound a little odd to her but she can understand its speech. She whimpers her apologies for attacking but explains that she was only hungry and she doesn't know what is good to eat here. Deciding that the little creature might be able to help, Lizzie quickly explains her situation and waits patiently as it taps the shiny blade against its leg.

"Marianne?" Bog questions, flying next to her with his staff ready.

"It's alright, Bog," Marianne assures. "This is Lizzie and she's really lost. She doesn't know how she got here, just that she knows she's far from home."

"And that's an excuse for trying to eat Tab and Diana?" Bog mutters.

"She's very hungry and those two wandered too close to where she was searching for something that she could eat," Marianne explains before turning her attention to Lizzie. "Do you eat mice?"

Lizzie cocks her head at the weird name. The little creature's explanation doesn't sound like anything she's eaten before and when the other little creature comes back with a dead creature, it doesn't look like anything she's eaten before. Poking the dead thing with her nose, her stomach offers its own opinion of being too hungry to care. Kinda tastes like a bird chick...well, except for the prickly stuff instead of soft feathers.

"Now, we have to figure out what to do with you," Marianne mutters. "The Shallow Cove delegates might know where you're from because they've seen really weird stuff in their kingdom but they won't arrive until late afternoon tomorrow."

"First thing to do is find her somewhere to stay that won't affect anyone. She doesn't look like a lizard that enjoys the cool dampness of the Dark Forest," Bog mentions, smirking at Lizzie's disgruntled snort. "I did notice a dry creek back in the Light Field with no villages near it."

"That might work," Marianne agrees. "That creek dried up three summers ago and there's an abandoned cave that used to be a dragonfly breeding stable that would be big enough to house Lizzie but there's also a cricket infestation in a nearby fallen tree."

Cricket! Lizzie wags her tail happily and licks her jaws at the appetizingly familiar word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't figure out what species of reptile Lizzie is, so in this story, I picked the closest one that my non-reptile-knowledgeable brain could figure out, a Tuatara. A very, very, very lost Tuatara.


	14. Chapter 14

After sending Tab and Diana to return to the hunting glade burrow to inform those keeping watch over the pack squirrels of the events, Bog and Marianne guide Lizzie through the Dark Forest and into the Light Field. It's a quick trip since the dry creek is very close to the border and Lizzie purrs once they cross onto the still-warm sand.

"There goes the cricket problem," Bog chuckles as Lizzie runs toward the rotting tree and starts eating crickets.

"Lizzie is going to be a kingdom hero if she gets rid of all those crickets," Marianne remarks. "There's been talk of rebuilding the village that was here but the effort to get rid of those pests was daunting."

"This would be a great market location for wares to and from the Dark Forest," he comments.

"It would. Come on, we better alert Headman Aver about Lizzie's presence and warn his village to keep their pet crickets from leaving the village grounds," she mentions. "Then we can get back to our hunting."

Marianne snorts as Lizzie barely acknowledges her warning to stay in the creek bed, a waved tail is all she gets from the eating reptile. Flying beside Bog towards the closest elf village, she worries her hands slightly as the night's strange events replay in her head.

She really needs to stop letting her rage put her in dangerous situations. She's pregnant now and the infant's safety needs to go first. Not to mention, she promised Bog to be more careful and she broke that promise when she attacked Lizzie.

Anything could have gone wrong.

"What are you worrying about?" Bog questions.

"I'm sorry, Bog," Marianne murmurs.

"Sorry? What for?" he asks.

"That was stupid of me to attack Lizzie like that. It's just when she tried to bite Tab, I got so angry that she had nearly eaten him and...," she starts.

"Marianne," Bog interrupts, reaching over to close her wings and carry her. "You're a true ruling royal. If it didn't enrage you when something threatens your people then you wouldn't be fit to rule a kingdom. While it terrifies me when you're forced to attack such opponents, I'm proud of you."

"So, you're not mad that I attacked Lizzie?" Marianne questions.

"No. You did the right thing," he assures. "I was too far away and Tab was too tired to keep running. If you hadn't of attacked when you did, she might have caught him and then we would have had to kill her in retaliation to protect both of our kingdoms."

"And you're not disappointed that we might not have a kill to present at moon-down?" she asks.

"Why would I be disappointed?" Bog questions.

"I know how important the Mid-Spring Wild Hunt is," Marianne reminds. "I feel really bad for letting you down. After all, it was my suggestion to give our mouse to Lizzie."

"And you have the nerve to call me a worrywart," he chides gently, landing on an open daisy. "You can never let me down."

"But the hunt," she protests.

"Is not important," Bog states firmly. "I wanted to participate in the mateship hunt with you, not because I wanted to test your ability as a mate, but because I wanted you to experience what our courtship would have been under different circumstances, to give you what we missed. Besides, even if we were only courting, I wouldn't care if we had a failed hunt, I'd still want to mate you because I love you, Marianne."

"I love you too, Bog. I just don't want to humiliate you in front of the other goblins," Marianne murmurs.

"Humiliate me? Wherever did you get an idea like that?" he asks.

"After I returned home and had the stew Nex prepared, I went looking for you and overheard you talking to Yemma," she admits.

"How much did you hear?" Bog questions sharply.

"Just that she didn't think it was a good idea to take me on the mateship hunt," Marianne answers before quickly explaining as her husband stiffens. "But I can understand her worries. After all, we've never hunted together before, so we don't know how the other hunts. I didn't stop to think that we might have had trouble hunting together and with this being such an important hunt, it's no wonder that Yemma was worried about the consequences of failing."

"That's not what she was worried about," he mutters, sighing at her hum. "For starters, I want to clarify that the consequences don't apply to you and me because we're already mated. No one will look down on us for failing a hunt."

"If the other goblins won't look down on you for failing the hunt then why did Yemma say that they will?" she asks.

"Because she suggested that I reinstate a law the Topaz King created, that Firth had outlawed the very day he became king," Bog growls. "Topaz is the king that started the Wild Hunt into the Light Field. He created a law that allowed strong males to take more than one female as a mate at a time, for the survival of the stronger bloodlines or so they claimed as their reason. In truth, it was to keep males that were possible threats to Topaz's ruling bloodline from being able to produce young or at least pureblood young."

"That explains Griselda's remark about the greedy royals hoarding female goblins to themselves as being the reason goblins started stealing females from the Light Field," Marianne comments. "But why would Yemma suggest such a thing?"

Marianne prods Bog's chest at his reluctance to continue. It wasn't often that something came up that he didn't want to talk about but she has a way to bring it out if he takes too long to speak. He knows it too.

"Alright," he sighs. "I want you to stay calm. I don't agree with her and even if I was a true pureblood, I still wouldn't agree. Her suggestion about that law was that I should take a goblin mate and father another bloodline because she believes that the added fairy blood will make our infants too weak to complete the trials. She actually told me that fairies and halfling-bloods will never be as good as a true goblin. I nearly attacked her but Adder had shown up."

Furrowing her brows, Marianne tries to place what Bog is telling her with the other female. It just doesn't seem to fit. Yemma may have been reserved but she was always friendly whenever they worked together in the nursery during the winter.

She has been more withdrawn lately, though. Not even accompanying Lyla when she brings her children to the castle to visit, even though Yemma's sons come with their aunt and cousins.

"Don't let it bother you," Bog murmurs, pulling her closer and rubbing her stomach. "It doesn't matter what she or anyone else says. I have the greatest mate ever and our infant will be the strongest king the Dark Forest has ever had."

"Humor me. Was she trying to suggest herself as the candidate for your goblin mate?" Marianne questions.

"She didn't say anything like that and it's doubtful that she would. I once tried to court her but she rejected me," he admits at her prodding. "She's older than me by only three seasons but her coming of age was the spring before mine. I thought we were something more and I asked her to wait until I could court her the next spring but she agreed to Styx's courting that Beltane instead."

"I feel like there's more," she mutters.

"There is...," Bog starts.

They both turn their attention toward the nearby elf village as lights flash erratically and smoke starts rising from the festival grounds. She doesn't remember the elves ever using a light and smoke show in a Spring Festival celebration before. Sunny would have told Dawn if they were planning something like that and Dawn would have told her before she left to go help Sunny after their royal obligations were done.

Screams ring out as the lights go out with a bang and the groan echoing against her body is her sentiments exactly.

"Oh for spirit's sake!" Marianne groans. "Now what?"


	15. Chapter 15

The scene at the village is total chaos with elves running away from the festival grounds in a panic. The stage is covered with ripped flower decorations and damaged instruments. Several prone bodies lay on the ground, though Bog can see that they're unharmed. The most alarming is the guards that are supposed to be guarding Dawn all tied up in barrels and no little blonde fairy princess in sight. He couldn't even see Sunny among those present.

"What happened?" Marianne asks.

"We were attacked by goblins," a Breezy Meadow male fairy answers, getting up from the ground. "They stole our prince."

"Impossible!" Bog denies.

"As if you would admit to your crime, beast," the Breezy Meadow male fairy sneers.

The urge to hit the fool is extremely hard to resist but Bog manages to restrain himself. Hence, why it comes as a complete shock when his royal scepter disappears from his hand and sends the pompous fairy flying involuntarily into the side of the stage.

Did he really need another reason to love his mate? She's so...

Words fail him to describe the greatness of her as Marianne slams her boot on the Breezy Meadow subject's chest to keep him from getting up and holds the sharp end of his royal scepter against the male's throat. The undisguised terror blaring in the fairy's green eyes as Marianne snaps her wings out and stares down at her opponent with all her regal bearing makes Bog sigh with adoration. He has no doubt that she even could put fear in a fachan's heart.

"I don't know what's going on but this is the second time you Breezy Meadow subjects been involved in an incident with my people. Either you start speaking the truth or I'll get the answers out of you my own way," Marianne threatens.

"He's...uh...he's telling the truth, Your Highness," one of Dawn's guards mutter as Bog cuts the roping binding them.

"Say that again, Dahlia," Marianne growls.

"Goblins did attack and they did steal Prince Vincent," Dahlia answers hesitantly.

"You saw my subjects here? Did you recognize any of them?" Bog questions.

"You beasts all look ali...," the Breezy Meadow fairy starts before yelping as Marianne stomps on him.

"That question wasn't for you. Keep your mouth shut unless you have something valuable to say," Marianne warns. "Did you recognize any of them, Dahlia, Zeph?"

"No, Your Highnesses," Zeph admits, nodding his thanks to Bog once his bonds are cut. "Everything went so fast. The lights went crazy, smoke started pouring from the stage, and then Dahlia and I were hit from behind. We actually didn't see anyone except for shapes and shadows."

"You saw no one but you actually have the audacity to accuse the goblins!" Marianne growls. "I take it that you don't have an answer for where Dawn is either, do you?"

"I saw the goblins and the princess went with them willingly," the Breezy Meadow fairy answers. "Hit me all you want but you're the one that's going to be explaining why your kingdom helped the goblins abduct our prince!"

Bog quickly grabs his royal scepter from Marianne's hands as she raises it to hit the fool with it again. He really has to question that male's survival instinct. It's obviously not working.

"Since you saw my subjects but can't identify any of them then tell me if you saw this troublemaking goblin among them. A very bossy one about this tall, long red hair, horns about this big, has amber eyes much like Marianne, three fingers on each hand and three toes on each foot, pale skin with no armor or scales, and only wears a circlet of white stones around their head," Bog describes.

"Yeah, he was the one in charge and gave all the orders before dragging the prince off," the Breezy Meadow fairy states confidently.

Bog gives no notice to the strange looks that he and Marianne are getting as they're forced to lean on each other because of their laughter.


	16. Chapter 16

Sunny groans as he starts to wake up. He had one bad headache. It felt worse than the time he had fallen off a log when he was playing catch with Dawn.

Dawn!

The memory of everything that happened before he was knocked unconscious plays in his head and he forces his eyes to open. The bright full moon gives him enough light to see two large sacks nearby and he tries wiggling his tied-up form closer to the one nearest him.

Marianne would get a kick out of seeing him moving like an inchworm.

"Dawn, is that you?" Sunny whispers quietly.

"Please tell me that's you, Sunny," Vincent mutters.

"Yeah but I'm caught too, so I won't be much help," Sunny comments. "What's going on, Vincent?"

"I got an idea but I'm not entirely sure," Vincent admits. "I do know one thing, though, and that is you can't open the sack Dawn is in."

"Huh? Why not?" Sunny questions.

"I'm positive that pink dust they threw at her was a love potion. If it is then she'll fall in love with the first creature she sees," Vincent explains. "But I'm not sure why they threw it at Dawn."

"From where I was singing on stage, it didn't look like he did it on purpose. He looked really shocked when it happened," Sunny remarks. "I think it was aimed at you but Dawn got in the way since she was dancing with that male fairy that came with you."

"Obviously, they were planning on grabbing her as well since they had a sack ready but I wonder why they didn't dust me as well if that was their plan. Do you know where we are?" Vincent asks.

"It looks like we're in the Dark Forest. Not far past the bor...," Sunny starts before hushing Vincent and wiggling back to where he was to pretend to still be unconscious.

"I can't believe you lost it!"

"Don't blame me! You were the one that dusted the princess and lost the potion, Rufus."

"No names, you idiot," Rufus growls. "We still got that elf problem."

"What problem? We just kill him along with Vincent after we make it to the Dark Forest castle. Those monsters get blamed and we get the rewards we deserve."

"Kill the prince?" Rufus repeats hesitantly.

"Well, we can't dust him, now can we? At least with the princess dusted, the Light Field still won't be able to claim innocence since they assured everyone that the goblins were safe. Everything will still work out in the end."

"But what about...," Rufus starts.

"Who cares! Now come on! We have to get these three to the castle. Hopefully, Jason and the others don't mess-up their end."

"This would be a lot easier if the others had stayed to help instead of returning to the palace because this place gives me the creeps, Alexander," Rufus mutters.

"Which is why we're going to clear this foul forest along with its grotesque inhabitants," Alexander comments. "We'll be heroes."

Sunny nearly alerts them to his wakefulness as he hears Dawn's muffled protest from being handled roughly. At the sound of Vincent's muffled cursing, Sunny forces himself to relax just before he's picked up and placed roughly into place. He takes a chance to open his eyes once they start moving and almost groans at the sight of squirrel fur and gleaming Light Field guard armor.

They really were pulling out all the trimmings to frame the two kingdoms.

His brown eyes fill with tears at the thought that they just might succeed. With Marianne busy celebrating a Dark Forest custom, there's no way she'll be coming to their rescue this time. It's doubtful that anyone else saw what really happened. He only saw it because of being so close to Dawn at the time the lights blinded everyone.

Maybe if he had just pretended that he didn't see anything and not have gone after them then maybe he could have done something instead of being caught and tied-up. Why did he think it was a good idea to try and attack three fairies more than twice his size? He wasn't Marianne. He's just Sunny.

A flash of something bright distracts Sunny from his disparaging thoughts and he squints into the forest around them.

What was that?


	17. Chapter 17

"I'm telling you the truth! I saw the goblin that your crown prince described as a troublemaker attack Prince Vincent and carry him off," the Breezy Meadow fairy insists.

"Marianne, Bog, please stop laughing," Dagda sighs, rubbing his forehead. "This is serious, so would either of you care to explain why you find Jason's testimony hilarious instead of being alarmed by Dark Forest goblins attacking a village in the Light Field?"

"For starters, goblins didn't attack here. He's the only one who saw these supposed goblins and his testimony is false," Marianne remarks.

"Of course I saw the goblins because I was dancing with your princess when they attacked and she kept me from protecting my prince," Jason defends. "Sir Thadius, it's obvious that the Light Field cannot be trusted. They've been stalling us instead of looking for Prince Vincent. I demand that we gather everyone to search for our beloved prince without them."

"Everyone is already gathered as Princess Marianne ordered when she sent a guard to fetch us," Sir Thadius mentions, raising his eyebrow at Jason's panicked look. "You say his testimony is false but on what evidence do you have other than him being the only one to actually see the goblins?"

"There is only one goblin that matches the description I gave him and it's not only impossible for that goblin to do what they're accused of but my description of that goblin was what they used to look like before I was born," Bog remarks. "My mother wears a dress and a braided necklace along with her white stone circlet nowadays. As that's not enough proof because clothes can be changed, the true evidence is that I described the full length of her horns, which are now broken."

Dagda covers his mouth in an attempt to stop the laughter wanting to bubble out. Now he understood what the two found hilarious. As determined as the old queen is, Griselda couldn't do something like this.

It was a clever way to figure out the truth. Unfortunately, it left more unpleasant possibilities available.

"Now that that is out of the way, maybe you should count the number of Breezy Meadow subjects that are present, Sir Thadius," Marianne suggests, cracking her knuckles. "And I'll find out where they've taken Dawn, Sunny, and Vincent from this lying, traitorous, son-of-a..."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I had nothing to do with this," Jason insists, backing away at the murderous look Marianne is giving him. "Sir Thadius, you must stop her!"

"Why would I do that? I already gave a headcount before we left the palace and other than you and Prince Vincent, there is still fourteen unaccounted for," Sir Thadius informs, drawing his sword. "Only three were given permission to accompany His Highness to this festival and not only are you the only one to greet us but that leaves fourteen still unaccounted for. If they don't slit you from navel to nose then I will! Where is my nephew, you gutless little worm?"


	18. Chapter 18

Bog pushes his wings to fly as fast as they are able to, pausing only a short moment once he reaches the border to use the Wild Hunt's horn to sound an urgent call to gather immediately at the castle. Hopefully, everyone had managed to catch their kill. He'd hate to be responsible for another failed hunt but it couldn't be helped. They need to find the missing trio before it's too late.

Sir Thadius' rage had gotten Jason to quickly confess about the plot to use Vincent to start a war between the Breezy Meadow and the Light Field. Though, he didn't confess much more than the execution phase of it and how it was supposed to happen. Supposed to happen, being how it didn't when something interfered when they were capturing Dawn and Vincent. Something that wasn't Sunny and is now running around the kingdom with a love potion.

Bog had only barely been able to convince Marianne to stay with her father once Jason admitted about the back-up plan if anything went wrong. Even she couldn't argue that it'd be faster if he went back to the castle alone. Besides, it would be better if she led the search for the small creature that Jason had said that stole the love potion from his accomplice's hands.

"BK!"

"Shut up, you stupid little elf!"

Bog stops in mid-air and scans the area in an attempt to find where they are. Sunny must be able to see him from his position but he can't see them. Flying around to search the area would be futile and possibly allow them to escape. Using the Wild Hunt's horn again, he calls for his able subjects to gather at his position in a circle and converge to scare his prey out of hiding. They're not too far from the castle, so it shouldn't take them long to get here.

He can only hope that it won't be too long for Sunny.


	19. Chapter 19

Sunny whimpers through the gag in his mouth at the blow to the back of his head. Unfortunately, Vincent and Dawn's protests are too muffled by the sacks for Bog to hear over the bubbling stream next to the bush they're hiding under.

He had been so happy to see the goblin king that he called out without thinking. Of course, he wouldn't be able to see them despite being right over them. That's why those two had the squirrel hide under the bush when they heard his wings approaching. They were already jumpy from hearing the sound of a horn and from what Sunny can see of both of them now, hearing Bog sound the horn again is unraveling whatever bravery they have left. Especially since he isn't moving from his spot above them.

"This is bad, Alexander," Rufus mutters.

"Just keep quiet. He'll go soon enough once he realizes that no one is here," Alexander assures, his darting eyes betraying his unease.

"Why don't we just leave them here? We're already deep in the goblins' territory and that map Roland gave shows that the castle is only a short distance away," Rufus mentions.

"True," Alexander hums. "Plus, if we are caught before we can return to the Light Field palace with the others then we can say that we were following the goblins to try and rescue Vincent but once we saw them kill him, we returned to get help to avenge him."

Sunny struggles harder against the ropes binding him as he hears the sound of a blade being unsheathed. They may have tied a pretty good knot but he almost had it undone before he had seen Bog. Just a little more...

"Now, now, little weak prince, time to join your weak mother," Alexander coos, grabbing the sack and poising his dagger to strike.

"The only weakling I see here is you," Stuff growls.

Sunny blinks as he looks up to see figures approaching the bush, barely having a second to notice them before everything goes crazy. The squirrel panics and runs from the bush with its forced passengers as several goblins pounce on the two fairies. He doesn't hear the brief struggle or Alexander screaming in pain as his wing is broken in the fight. All Sunny can hear is his own muffled screaming along with Vincent's and Dawn's as the scared animal starts bucking wildly.

Bog is quick to catch and soothe the frightened squirrel before slicing the loose ropes on Sunny. The elf gratefully slides off the squirrel and onto the ground before removing the gag from his mouth. He barely notices as the sprite prince soon joins his side, Vincent's antennas drooping and looking paler than he should.

"You're my new best friend, BK," Sunny mumbles groggily, holding his head in an effort to get the ground to stay still.

"Hey! That's my title, Sunny!" Dawn protests.

"Don't open that sack!"


	20. Chapter 20

Marianne groans as she paces in front of the balcony window of her old room in the Light Field palace. She hated waiting but her father is right about her needing to rest. He could be less smug about winning an argument, though.

Nibbling on the bilberry muffin she pilfered from the kitchen, she turns her attention to the moving distant lights scattered across the kingdom.

"I should be there with them," she mutters.

Of course, she knew that there isn't anything more she could do. She has full confidence that Bog already has Dawn, Sunny, and Vincent safe. Which only leaves the love potion thief to be found and that means a lot of flying.

Her wings are aching just thinking about it and a yawn sneaks past her defenses. Another yawn forces her to abandon her vigil and settle onto the rosebud bed. A lonely bed without her husband.

"Marianne? You should be sleeping," Dagda chides, walking into the room.

"Any news yet?" Marianne asks instead.

"None yet, I'm afraid," he murmurs, sitting down beside her. "The guards I sent into the Dark Forest haven't returned and those searching the Light Field for the thief haven't found it."

"What about the missing Breezy Meadow subjects?" she questions.

"Twelve of them are accounted for and are now temporary guests in the dungeons until the Breezy Meadow delegates return home," Dagda answers. "Sir Thadius has every single one of the Breezy Meadow subjects quivering in fear and the healers had to be sent down to the dungeons once he got through with the conspirators. Our wings may not work as well as they did when we were younger but we're still pretty spry old males."

"I'm sure Roland appreciated how strong you still are before you banished him," Marianne chuckles. "Speaking of which, what are we going to do about him selling kingdom secrets to Queen Vesper?"

"Since he has deemed himself a threat to the kingdom, I will inform the other kingdoms of his crimes. If he's still in residence in the Breezy Meadow then it won't take long before he meets the same fate those conspirators will be facing upon their return to their kingdom," he comments.

Marianne can't help the shiver at the knowledge of what will happen. The Breezy Meadow isn't averse to harsh public punishments for even the smallest crimes but only public torture and execution awaits those connected to this night's events.

"Now, enough about that. There's something I want to ask you since you're still awake," Dagda mentions. "Did Bog say anything to you about the fight that happened this afternoon between the two guards?"

"No," she answers. "That happened after he left, so he didn't know about it."

"I think he knows more than you think. When Dawn came home for dinner, she said that Bog had looked upset when he passed by Sunny's village on his way back to the Dark Forest and didn't even acknowledge her and Sunny waving at him," he explains. "Also, Sepphira finally admitted to what started the fight. The other guard, Alexander, had made...cruel remarks about Bog. When he eventually insinuated that your infant was the result of the night of your abduction and that you were only guessing about which goblin sired the infant...,"

"I'm disappointed in Sepphira, she should have hit him harder," Marianne remarks. "Why didn't she tell me what happened earlier? I wouldn't have punished her had I known she was only defending her royals' honor."

"She didn't want you to know what Alexander's opinion was of you and Bog but when she realized that he was one of the two Breezy Meadow subjects still missing, she requested that she be allowed to join the guards sent into the Dark Forest," Dagda comments.

"I'll talk to Bog to see if he heard anything," she murmurs, rubbing her stomach. "He's already pretty riled, though. One of our subjects back in the Dark Forest made a derogatory remark about the infant today, claiming that they'll be too weak to continue Bog's royal bloodline. Griselda had informed me months ago that there are a few pureblood families that looked down on halfling-bloods as inferior but it doesn't make sense with this goblin. I may not have been around her much but Yemma has never said anything to make me believe she was one of them, especially since she has two sons with a male that was a halfling-blood."

"Was? I take it that her husband is dead?" he guesses.

"Lyla, her brother's mate, had told me that Styx died a few weeks before last Beltane," Marianne confirms.

"Then as one ruler to another, I suggest that you deal cautiously when dealing with your subject. She might very well be speaking out of pain from a broken heart and not out of disloyalty," Dagda suggests, leaning over to kiss her forehead. "As a father, I order you to try and get some sleep. I have to go see if the messengers I sent to Plum are back yet."

"You sent a messenger to her? Dad, you're crazy," she groans.


	21. Chapter 21

**_"Sugar pie honey bunch! You know that I love you!"_ **

This is crazy!

Why didn't he shut the bag immediately when Sunny and Vincent screamed the warning?

First Samhain, then Imbolc, now Beltane! He's not leaving his chambers at all during the time of Lughnasa!

"Stop that," Bog growls, prying Dawn's hands away from his waist. "Come on, Dawn, enough of this foolishness."

**_"I can't help myself! I love you and nobody else!"_ **

"Vincent, quit laughing and help me," Bog orders before yelping as Dawn starts caressing his chest. "Stop that! I am happily mated! To your sister!"

Flying away from the persistent fairy does no good as she follows after, crooning at the top of her lungs. Sunny started crying when Dawn started singing and Vincent had yet to stop laughing, so he couldn't expect help from either of them. His goblins are useless as well, only staring at the scene in disbelief, though at least they subdued the two Breezy Meadow fairies.

**_"In and out my life! You come and you go!"_ **

He hated doing it but it has to be done. For his own sanity, at least.

Flying close to the ground with his love-struck pursuer close behind, Bog grabs the discarded sack and quickly turns to place it over Dawn. The muffled complaints are music to his ears as he ties the sack's opening tightly shut. He's taking no chances.

"Have we come too late, Your Highness?" a Light Field guard questions.

Bog nearly groans as the group of fairies land in the small clearing. Of course, they had to witness that. He's definitely not leaving his chambers during Lughnasa.

"Escort Prince Vincent, Princess Dawn, and Sunny back to the Light Field but keep Princess Dawn in that sack. She's been love-dusted," Bog groans.

"Don't worry, Your Highness," another Light Field guard assures, trying to cough down their laughter. "His Majesty has sent messengers to the Sugar Plum Fairy to request her assistance should anyone else be infected by the love potion."

Bog rolls his eyes as he notices the second guards' brown eyes shining with laughter despite their attempts to be serious. He may still have trouble noticing the minute differences to tell each of the Light Field guards apart when they have their glamour on but there wasn't any way he could mistake Hadrian. No doubt the youth couldn't wait until he could tell his father what he'd seen. The tale of Bog being chased by Dawn will be laughed about during the next Light Field council meeting.

"Have they found the thief yet?" Bog asks.

"Thief? You mean, the love potion was stolen?" Sunny questions.

"That would explain why they didn't dust me if that was their plan," Vincent mutters, lifting himself off the ground.

"It was their plan, as was discovered by Princess Marianne and Bog King, Your Highness," the first Light Field guard informs. "They had planned to love dust you into falling in love with Princess Dawn and then accuse the Light Field of trying to usurp the Breezy Meadow throne. It was foiled by Princess Dawn being dusted by accident and then by some small creature stealing the love potion while everyone was still disorientated by the lights and smoke. The creature is now running loose around the Light Field."

"King Dagda and Princess Marianne have sent search parties to find and apprehend the love potion thief but there was no luck before we had crossed into the Dark Forest," Hadrian continues.

"The thief doesn't happen to have white fur does it?" Sunny asks.

"I'm almost afraid to ask why you asked that specifically," Bog mutters. "But yes, their accomplice said that the thief had white fur."

"Then it's not in the Light Field," Sunny states. "It's in the Dark Forest."


	22. Chapter 22

"This is where you saw it?" Bog questions.

"This looks like the place," Sunny confirms before urging his borrowed dragonfly to another section. "I saw the pink light flash near here before seeing something white running through the brush thataway."

Bog groans at the implication as Sunny points farther into the Dark Forest. He had hoped that the little thief had returned to the Light Field.

"Sire," Fang calls as he approaches on his own dragonfly. "Not everyone has reported back from the Wild Hunt."

"How many are missing?" Bog asks.

"We're not sure how many might be missing because of celebrating a successful hunt but at least half of the participants haven't returned to the castle," Fang mentions.

"Meaning at least ten goblins. Sunny, return to the Light Field and inform King Dagda of this," Bog orders. "Tell him that it'll be unsafe for any of the Light Field residents to search the Dark Forest, so keep watch at the edge in case the thief crosses the border again."

"What about anyone that's gotten dusted?" Sunny questions.

"It'd probably be best to confine them until they can be cured," Bog comments. "This fairy King Dagda sent for can cure them, right?"

"Plum isn't a fairy but no one's quite sure what she is exactly. Other than totally nuts, anyway," Sunny mutters. "King Dagda's father, King Elatha, had imprisoned her for twenty springs for making love potions and giving it to any creature that came to her. King Dagda released her after he was crowned when she swore not to make another love potion again. If anyone knows how love potions work, it's her."

Soft cooing causes the trio to look to the ground and none of them can hold their groans at the sight before them. Love is good and all but that's crossing a line.

Bog quickly flies down and pulls the mouse off the sentient mushroom. Only the love-dusted mushroom's sobbing pleas keep him from killing the randy love-dusted mouse. He has no desire to permanently traumatize his poor subject. A harsh growl and a shake on the fur within his grip makes the unusually aggressive mouse revert back to timidity, its pink-hazed eyes filling with tears.

"I want every love-dusted creature in the dungeon until the antidote is ready," Bog orders Fang. "Sunny, get to King Dagda as fast as you can. Make sure he confines anyone caught dusted before something irreversible happens."

Sighing as they both fly off to obey him, Bog pats the mushroom's head to get it to calm down but it only focuses its pink-hazed eyes on the mouse as it squeaks pitifully.

The memory of his mate's sister's own pink-hazed eyes turns his stomach sour. Especially with the added memory of Sunny's heartbroken gaze when the little fairy started professing her love.

There better be an antidote or he's liable to start his own war on the Breezy Meadow.


	23. Chapter 23

Lizzie perks up her head as something runs past the burrow she is digging out. Poking her head out the cave, she cocks her head at the little white creature running down the ravine. It looks similar to the mouse-thing that she was given to eat except a lot smaller and its tail is shining a bright pink.

She shakes off her curiosity and returns to her digging. It's not nearly deep enough to keep her cool once the sun rises and it'd be terrible to have to wake up when the sun is up just to find a new place to stay.

After a few more adjustments to her temporary home, Lizzie ambles down the ravine back toward the forested area. The little flying creature, Marianne, yes, that's what the other flying creature called it. Marianne had told her to stay here and she'd hate to ruin her chances of being helped to go back home but surely it'd understand that she needed water and she saw a delicious-looking stream when they were traveling here.

Lizzie looks up as the other flying creature flies past her very quickly and doesn't notice her. She's sure that Marianne called it Bog but looking around, she doesn't see Marianne with it. It only stops for a moment to bellow a loud call that echos around her prostrate form before continuing its flight.

Whatever these creatures are, they sure can be terrifying. Maybe it is a bad idea to disobey Marianne's orders. Oh, but she really needs something to drink. Surely, they won't get upset at her for leaving temporarily...better be quick just in case.

The cool water tastes as good as it looks and she takes her fill before ambling back up the path she made. She saw more flying creatures similar to Marianne fly overhead while she was drinking and she'd rather get back to her new burrow before Marianne got angry at her again. Besides, she wanted to have a few more crickets before the sun rose.

She hides in the brush as the flying creatures pass her again, this time carrying two large sacks and flying with two different flying creatures and Bog. Bog and one of the different flying creature stay while the others keep flying ahead. The different creature almost looks like the dragonflies back home except this one had two heads.

Just as Lizzie tries to creep away, she catches what Bog and the two-headed dragonfly is talking about. Something about a pink light and a white creature. It almost sounds like the little creature that ran past her while she was digging not too long after Marianne and Bog left her. As another two-headed dragonfly shows up, it becomes clear to her that whatever that little creature was, it is causing a lot of trouble for Bog.

Lizzie sniffs around and easily catches the scent of the little creature that was in front of her burrow. It was here and its scent goes deeper into the forest.

Marianne and Bog did give her their prey to eat and found her an acceptable place to live that had the added benefit of lots of food. Since they helped her then it's only hospitable to help them.


	24. Chapter 24

The sound of heavy footsteps causes Bog to let go of the love-dusted mouse and spin around with his staff ready. He recognizes Lizzie easily but he doesn't relax until she sits down in front of him and cocks her head curiously at the mushroom riding the escaping mouse. The pair don't get far as his subjects finally arrive to take them to the dungeons.

"It's fine. This is Lizzie and she's promised not to eat anyone," Bog assures the wide-eye goblins. "Now, Lizzie, what are you doing here?"

Bog can't help his grin as Lizzie explains her reasons and he happily follows as the reptile leads farther into the Dark Forest after the thief's scent trail. With her help, they'll be able to track down the thief in no time.

His subjects quickly apprehend each love-dusted victim they come across and with each victim, Bog grows angrier at the thief. More sentient mushrooms, a mole, two toads, a hedgepig, another mouse, and three goblins all spelled by that cursed potion. The thought of the permanent damage that could have been done by this reckless creature is infuriating.

No more so than watching Kyanite being forced to subdue a dusted Remus after first being devastated because he believed that she had rejected him of her own free will. Remus' distraught whimpering as her love-dusted mushroom lover is taken away tears at Bog's heart and he grips his royal staff harder. He's only glad that Marianne didn't come with him and be forced to see these acts of fake-love.

Turning to signal Lizzie to continue, Bog pauses as Remus' whimpers cease and he only hears Kyanite's rumbles of affection and reassurance. He turns just in time to notice Remus' eyes lose their pink-haze and to see the female goblin quit struggling in her prospective mate's hold before returning his embrace with her own rumbles of affection.

"What?" Bog mumbles.

Lizzie's roar distracts him from trying to figure it out and he takes to the air to catch up to the charging reptile. The white figure dashing across the ground ahead of them must be the thief. It doesn't look like any creature he's seen but it's obviously not an animal judging by its laughter as it dives into the briar patch and forcing Lizzie to quit following it.

Bog motions Lizzie to circle the patch before he flies into the prickly maze. The creature laughs from its position on one of the briars ahead before it continues to the other side faster than Bog is able to. Its cockiness is its undoing and as the creature jumps from the briar patch, it turns its attention to mock Bog, not noticing Lizzie's open jaws heading straight for it.

Bog cackles as Lizzie grins smugly after closing her mouth around the little creature. What was it his mother used to say when he was a young one? Don't celebrate your victory until you've won or your opponent will be celebrating instead.

"Good work, Lizzie! Alright, you little thing in there, give me the potion," Bog orders, snorting as a small white-furred hand squeezes past the reptile's lips to shake a finger. "Fine. Have a nice trip to the other end of the lizard."

Smirking as the pink glowing bottle is forced between Lizzie's lips, Bog grabs it before reaching his other hand into the closed mouth and pulling out the thief. He blinks at the figure in his grip. What he had grabbed was a pair of long white-furred ears connected to a small mouse-like white-furred body, all except a patch of black fur on the tips of its ears and the top of its head. Black tear-filled eyes stare back at him and whimpers emit from a long sharp-toothed snout as it holds its long furless tail between its hands.

"Are you a Breezy Meadow subject?" Bog questions.

The creature shakes its head the best it can and holds its hands out before hissing and curling into a ball.

"Are the Breezy Meadow subjects mean to you?" Bog asks, getting a nod. "Can't you talk?"

Bog sighs as the creature covers its eyes, shakes its head, and sniffles. It'll be a lot harder getting the answers he wants out of a creature that can't tell them anything. He doubted the magic they could use to understand animals when they want to communicate with them would work on this creature since it had magic of its own.

"You've caused a lot of chaos with your antics and by rights, I should put you to death for the pain you've put my subjects through," Bog states, sighing again at the creature's distressed howl.

Maybe Marianne would have an idea of how to deal with this.


	25. Chapter 25

I love my sister.

I love my sister.

I love my s...ister.

I lo...ve my sis...ter.

I LOATHE MY SISTER!

"That does it," Marianne growls, throwing her pillow away from her and abandoning her bed. "I'm gonna kill her!"

The nearby guards touch the ceiling without needing their wings as Marianne slams the door open and storms down the hallway. Flying would be too quick. She is going to let her rage simmer until it reaches its optimum peak and then strangle her annoying little sister.

Six months living in the peaceful quietness of the Dark Forest and she had somehow forgotten the nauseating love-sick fools of her birth kingdom. She'd rather deal with horny goblins who have no problem getting extremely frisky in very public places, the fact that she and Bog have been one of them has nothing to do with her feelings about that at all, but at least they're not singing nauseous love songs at the top of their lungs at a time when sensible people should be sleeping.

"Dawn! You better have a good reason to stop me from ripping your wings off," Marianne growls, slamming the throne room doors open.

The terrified eyes turned toward her seething figure makes her blink.

Oh, right.

They were in the middle of a crisis. How did she manage to forget that?

"Oh, Marianne! I just found the most perfect male," Dawn sighs dreamily before scowling at her father. "But Daddy says no."

"Really? So, who's the unlucky...I mean, lucky male?" Marianne questions.

"Boggy Woggy Kingy Wingy!" Dawn squeals.

Poor Bog.

"It's not what you think, dear," Dagda hastily reassures, worried at her deadpan expression. "Dawn's been dusted by the love potion and..."

"Really, Daddy! I'm perfectly fine," Dawn insists. "Bog is just so perfect."

"He's also married," Dagda reminds with a growl. "To your sister!"

"You look like you're enjoying this immensely," Marianne comments to Vincent, ignoring ongoing the father-daughter argument.

"This is a lot better than seeing my life flash before my eyes," Vincent remarks. "They were about to kill me when Bog and his subjects attacked. Unfortunately, Sunny and I were too disorientated to warn Bog from opening the sack containing Dawn. Your partner is very noble."

"He is," Marianne agrees. "I see you and Dawn but where is Sunny?"

"It seems the thief had run into the Dark Forest around the time our captors had also escaped there and Sunny had seen it. So, he's helping Bog locate the love potion thief by showing him where he saw it," Vincent answers.

Marianne groans at the implication. It will be nearly impossible to find the love potion thief in the immense network of brush and trees in the Dark Forest. It'll take days, at least. That's if it doesn't decide to travel right through it to wetlands on the other side.

A budding headache forces her to rub her temples. She didn't have enough sleep before Dawn's crooning woke her and now with the added burden of the possible escape of the love potion thief...well, it's no wonder that she's feeling overwhelmed, especially hearing her father's attempts to talk sense into Dawn. All she wants to do right now is go home and curl up in her nice soft moss bed with her husband but she'll be lucky if he's able to return for her before sunrise.

Then there's the whole problem with the Breezy Meadow that needs to be dealt with before the other kingdoms' delegates arrive in the afternoon.

"Where are we at concerning your kingdom?" Marianne asks.

"You're looking at the new King of the Breezy Meadow, once we return home, anyway. After this fiasco, Sir Thadius has finally admitted that Vesper is not looking out for my best interest and will never be the mother to me that Mother had hoped that she would be. He's taking it hard but is no longer admonishing me to abide by kingdom rules and I informed him of the old law I found to clear him from feeling guilty of breaking his promise to Mother," Vincent comments. "He managed to weed out those loyal to Vesper, which isn't many once they found out that Vesper had ordered me to be killed if everything didn't go according to plan."

"I can understand her wanting to kill you to start her own royal bloodline but it seems strange that her first plan was to dust you into falling in love with Dawn," Marianne mentions.

"We have a law that can force an abdication of the throne if the ruler or heir has been corrupted by outside influences," Vincent explains. "A love potion is the cleanest way of getting rid of my royal bloodline since all my offspring would be deemed corrupted and unqualified for the throne. The traitors had agreed with Vesper's plan for that reason because they're still angry with Mother for agreeing to King Elatha's trade agreement. Such fools."

She couldn't agree more. She also couldn't help but think her father is acting foolish himself right now. Dawn is past being sensible at the moment and her faulty reasonings are beginning to revive Marianne's previous murderous thoughts.

"I'll do what I want," Dawn states firmly. "Marianne is not the boss of me."

Seriously maiming is not killing.

"Oh, yes I am," Marianne pipes up, interrupting her father's rebuke. "I am the Crown Princess of the Light Field as well as the Queen of the Dark Forest, meaning I outrank you twice and that I am the boss of you. Dawn, you've been love-dusted and before you say anything more that will get you into more trouble than you already are, go to sleep."

"But I saw Boggy first," Dawn pouts.

"I was born first," Marianne quips. "Sleep, now!"

Vincent's suppressed laughter at Dawn's sulking is interrupted by a yawn and Marianne pushes the male sprite's shoulder, nodding to the door.

"No point in you staying up any longer," Marianne remarks.

"I want to wait until news com...," Vincent protests softly before yawning again. "Plus, I want to thank Sunny. If it wasn't for his bravery, Bog might not have rescued us in time."

"Sunny! Where is Sunny?" Dawn questions.

"Probably getting eaten," Marianne comments dully, smirking as Dawn's face turns to panic. "It is dangerous in the Dark Forest if you're not aware of the area, after all. Just today, Bog and I came across a huge lizard that was trying to eat a couple of goblins. There's also badger cubs to worry about, wild spiders, frogs, and there's even a plant that will eat small creatures that get stuck in it. Sunny is just the right size."

Okay, so maybe she is being a little cruel but she'll blame it on being cruelly woken up by her now sobbing little sister.

Her first official Wild Hunt with Bog was interrupted and though they managed to get a kill, it's a failed hunt because of her suggestion of giving the mouse to Lizzie. Both her kingdoms were put in danger because of a power-hungry old female sprite. Her sister and both of her childhood friends were nearly killed. It's been a long day and a long night with no prospects of tomorrow being any more relaxing, so she's not feeling up to being nice at moment.

Marianne sighs as Dawn keeps crying without stopping. Just as she's ready to reassure her that Sunny is safe, the throne room door opens again and Sunny walks in. The small male elf opens his mouth to report but takes one look at the crying Dawn and runs to her side.

"Dawn! Are you okay? What did Marianne do?" Sunny asks.

"Why is it that your first idea of what is making Dawn cry is that I did something?" Marianne questions.

"Because you're usually somehow responsible," Sunny remarks.

Marianne lightly glares at him as her father coughs to cover his laughter. It's not like she can actually deny it.

She's the one laughing, though, when Sunny yelps as Dawn pulls him into a tight hug. Her mirth almost causes her to miss the pink-haze leaving her sister's eyes.

Huh?


	26. Chapter 26

"Who are you?" Marianne questions.

"An imp," Vincent states, scowling at the captive creature. "It must have followed us."

"I thought you said that you weren't a Breezy Meadow subject," Bog growls at the imp.

"It isn't. Imps are pests that came into the Breezy Meadow when I was young," Vincent comments.

Bog raises his eyebrow as the little creature tries to scramble away from the sprite prince, a futile effort with it being confined by Bog's hand around its stomach. It finally gives up and tries to make itself smaller by burrowing against Bog's carapace and curling into a ball, even its long ears are hidden in the small pile of fur.

"I remember Queen Valatina saying pests as the reason for the food shortage in the Breezy Meadow when she signed the trade agreement but she didn't elaborate further," Dagda mentions. "These imps wouldn't happen to have been responsible, were they?"

"They were. Imps are gluttonous thieves. They eat more grain than a rat and have no aversion to stealing larvae or even grown bees from our honey farms," Vincent explains. "I guess I should have known it was an imp when they mentioned a thief had stolen the love potion but I thought the last one was exterminated last autumn."

Leaning his royal scepter against his shoulder, Bog uses his other hand to pet the whimpering creature in his hold. No wonder the poor thing was so scared.

"Best to kill that thing before it causes any more damage," Vincent suggests.

"Now just...," Bog starts.

"It wasn't the one to cause damage but your own people," Marianne interrupts, placing a calming hand on Bog's chest. "It was your people who brought a love potion into our kingdom, a kingdom where love potions are forbidden, and it was your people who are the true ones responsible for every love-dusted creature, not this little imp. Besides, had it not stolen that potion, you would be love-dusted and your royal bloodline would cease. You should be grateful to it, Vincent."

"Grateful! To an imp? The very idea is insulting," Vincent growls. "That thing is nothing but chaos!"

Bog blinks as Marianne smirks at the other male before picking up the imp from his hold, coddles it to her chest and walks toward the palace exit. He can't help his huff of laughter as the imp sticks its head up to look over her shoulder and sticks its tongue out at Vincent.

"We'll see you when the other delegates arrive tomo...this afternoon," Marianne comments. "Please send Plum to the Dark Forest after she arrives once she cures those infected here and please tell her to behave, Dad. You're the only one she listens to."

"She's crazy," Vincent mutters.

"She's chaos."

Bog laughs with Dagda at their combined response before bidding his own goodbyes and joining his mate at the palace door. He smirks as the curious creature fiddles with the sheathed blades on Marianne's chest and trills at her soft rebuke.

"Marianne," Bog starts.

"It's not its fault," Marianne interrupts. "I mean, I know it caused a lot of trouble but I think it was only doing it to cause trouble for the Breezy Meadow. Weren't you?"

The imp nods its head and trills again before burrowing against Marianne's shoulder and yawning.

"Marianne," Bog tries again.

"We can't just let the Breezy Meadow have it. You heard Vincent, they'll kill it just like they've killed its kin," Marianne interrupts again, petting the purring creature. "Besides the love potion, I'll wager that the only thing this poor thing or its kin has stolen is food. Food that it needed to survive. Maybe..."

Marianne may have her way of getting him to talk when he is reluctant to do so but he also has his own methods of getting her to become quiet when she's rambling. After all, there are better uses for her soft mouth than talking.

He doesn't pull back until he's sure she is thoroughly kissed and he smirks at her dazed expression. Scratching the imp's furry head, Bog motions toward the open sky with his other hand.

"Let's go home," Bog suggests. "Then we can figure out where this little one can go, preferably in the Dark Forest and away from any Breezy Meadow subject."

Only lights from each village watchtower greet the pair as they fly through the kingdom, everyone able to return to bed now that the crisis is over. They stop briefly at the dry creek bed for Marianne to thank Lizzie for her help and bid the reptile sweet dreams as she readies for the sunrise.

With the moon low in the sky and the sun still a long way off from rising, Bog insists on carrying Marianne while in the Dark Forest to keep from losing sight of her in the darkened night. The soft snores from within Marianne's arms tell the state of their newest subject, its clawed hands clinging to the snake-leather tunic in a tight grip and its tail wrapped tightly around Bog's arm.

"Did the Wild Hunt go well for everyone before you had to end it?" Marianne asks.

"Only three pairs hadn't made a kill," Bog informs. "So I gave them permission to return to the hunting glade if they wanted to. If you want to, we can continue our hunt as well."

"You're sweet," she murmurs, moving her head to kiss his jaw. "But you've also been doing a lot of flying tonight and while I've slept, you haven't. As long as you don't mind going home without a kill then it's fine. We brought home something at least."

"Yeah, another mouth to feed," he chuckles.


	27. Chapter 27

Bog nearly panics as his hand touches fur instead of his mate's smooth flesh but the memory of the early morning events keeps him from yelling. Yawning, he leans up on his elbow and pulls the moss blanket away, revealing black eyes gleaming back at him.

The imp trills at him before putting his ears back onto Marianne's stomach.

"Hear the infant, do you?" Bog questions.

The imp chirps and purrs as Bog pets the top of his head.

Hard to believe that this little troublemaker is only a young one after all the trouble it managed to cause. He and Marianne may have suspected it but they didn't realize how young until Junco examined the imp after they returned to the castle. As well as being underfed, Junco also announced that the little male's male parts are undeveloped and he still has all of his milk teeth except two.

The imp was offended by the master healer's prodding and had escaped to burrow in Marianne's arms but not before hissing at the female goblin. Which only got laughter from Griselda, who decided to reminisce that Bog himself hated examinations when he was young and acted just like that.

Putting their new charge with the other young that live inside the castle had done no good as the imp had managed to find his way through the corridors and into the royal chambers. All three pixies had expressed their disapproval as the imp jumped onto the moss bed and curled up between Bog and Marianne but it didn't take the trio long before they started cooing at how cute he is.

"Sire, several Light Field guards have arrived escorting the Sugar Plum Fairy," Thang announces through the door, disrupting his musing.

"Good. Show them where the potion's victims are and I'll be there soon," Bog responds.

"We'll be there soon," Marianne corrects.

"You should sleep a little longer," Bog chides. "It's only a few hours past sunrise."

Marianne rolls her eyes before giving him a kiss and exiting the bed. Bog chuckles as the imp covers his eyes as Marianne changes out of her sleeping gown and into her normal attire.

"We need to give him a name," Bog mentions, nodding to the little creature.

"I'll ask Plum to take a look into his mind and find out what it is. She and her magic are...unique," Marianne explains at his hum. "Just try not to let her overwhelm you. She's worse than Dawn is when it comes to high emotions and ever since Mom died, she's taken it upon herself to perform 'motherly care' for me and Dawn."

He should have taken her warning and went back to sleep himself. Hearing the one-sided bubbling chattering wafting through the air as they walked down to the dungeons should have been an omen. Seeing the imp plug his ears from his position in Marianne's arms should have put fear in his heart.

But no, he just had to keep walking to his doom. A shimmering blue doom that slams into him the second he reaches the floor of the dungeon.

"Oh, so this is the male!" Plum squeals. "You picked a good one, Marianne!"

Growling at the clinging female does absolutely no good and trying to pry her arms away from his waist is like wrestling with clinging vines. She's as bad as his mother!

Bog breathes a sigh of relief as Plum abandons her doting on him and flies over to Marianne, pinching her cheeks and cooing over her. The imp abandons his no-longer-safe haven and jumps onto Bog.

For once having no desire to save his mate should he become the next victim, Bog takes a look at the crazy creature as she continues speaking. She almost made him think of a pixie with her floating legless appearance but she's far bigger, nearly as tall as his mother. His next thought is a wingless fairy since her form is very much like Marianne but she has four-fingered hands much like an elf and he only saw elves have tufted hair like that. There's also the fact that she is not only completely blue but she glows a shimmering blue as well. Maybe she's a halfling-blood?

Whatever she is, one thing he is sure of, though, and that is Sunny is correct. She's totally nuts.

"...grown so much since I last saw you and now look at you, married and expecting an infant," Plum chatters blithely. "Your silly father forgot to inform the sprite colony of last autumn's events, so I didn't even hear about your marriage until the messengers came to fetch me to fix this fiasco. He claims that he didn't want to worry the colony before winter set in but I know him better than that. He just didn..."

"Plum, the antidote," Marianne interrupts.

"Oh, right," Plum mutters, letting Marianne's cheeks go. "As I told your father, the antidote is the one thing more powerful than the potion. Real love."

"Real love? I guess that explains why Remus and Dawn didn't stay spelled," Marianne comments. "But how did the potion even work in the first place since they were already in love?"

"The potion can't work on someone who has already acknowledged their love but it can on someone who doesn't realize they're in love or realize who they're in love with. That's usually fixed when the person they're in love with expresses their own love while they're dusted. It's so romantic," Plum sighs. "That's the only way to cancel the love potion's effects."

"Wait, you mean everyone that isn't in love with someone is going to stay dusted forever?" Marianne questions.

"Nothing lasts forever," Plum murmurs sadly before throwing her hands up and grinning. "Not to worry, though! The potion's effects fade after a length of time and I've checked, as well as destroyed, the potion you retrieved. Had I made it, the spell would have lasted from one full moon to the next full moon but whoever made this potion is very weak. It'll be lucky to last to the next sunrise."

They both sigh in relief at the news. At least there will be no permanent damage from last night's events to either kingdoms' inhabitants. Each of the potion's victims had been retrieved before anything had happened to or between them and they won't be spelled for much longer.

"Now that that is settled," Plum comments cheerfully before turning serious. "We need to talk."


	28. Chapter 28

"I can understand your father's worry over me getting all huffy about you marrying for something other than love but a marriage based solely because you were kidnapped? I can't believe you thought that was a good idea!" Plum chides.

"Plum," Marianne starts.

"It's clear you two love each other now, so I'm not saying that I disapprove," Plum interrupts. "But why didn't you at least court for a season as is traditional before deciding to up and get married? You didn't even wait for one day, for spirit's sake!"

"Plum," Marianne tries again.

"You were always more sensible than your sister," Plum continues. "You are your father's daughter, after all, so it's a complete shock that your father insists that this arrangement was your idea and not anyone else's."

"Plum!" Griselda yells.

Griselda taps her foot impatiently as Plum turns her shocked attention to her. She tries not to ruin her scowl at the other female as she hears Bog, Marianne, and the imp breathe a sigh of relief at the silence.

"Breakfast is ready," Griselda announces, ushering the mated pair into the dining room.

Her heart pangs as the imp becomes excited at the prepared food laid on the table and nearly reaches out to take some before squeaking and clinging to Marianne's tunic in obvious fear. Before she is able to reassure the poor thing, Marianne soothes him herself and Bog offers him some food with his own reassurances.

They'll make such great parents!

Shooing away the usual morning reports by Stuff and Thang, Griselda explains to Plum the events of that fateful day, just as she told it to Dagda the morning of Samhain. Any attempts to offer an edited version is shushed with an order for the pair to continue eating.

"It's still not ideal but I guess that's understandable," Plum murmurs once the story is done. "I wonder why Dagda didn't explain all that?"

"Did you even listen to a word he said?" Marianne counters.

"Of course I did," Plum scoffs. "I always listen when he speaks. After all, what else did I have to do in that dungeon your grandfather locked me away in?"

Griselda tries to contain her laughter at Marianne's longsuffering look. Obviously, this is a normal occurrence whenever Plum is involved.

"I'm only looking out for you, Marianne," Plum insists.

"I know," Marianne murmurs, offering a fond smile to the elder female before feeding another slice of cooked meat to the imp. "I'll tell you the same thing I told Vincent yesterday when he expressed his own concerns. Had that law not even been a problem, I would have courted Bog myself."

"You..you would? Me, too!" Bog agrees with a large smile. "I...I mean, I had hoped that you weren't already mated and I...well, I..."

Tuning out her son's bashful mutterings, Griselda turns her attention back to Plum and relaxes as she notices her beaming smile. The other female was only concerned that Marianne had truly made the choice from her heart. It really was no different than when Dagda himself tested her decision.

"They really do love each other," Plum sighs happily. "I didn't even need my magic to see it when they walked into the dungeon."

"They were like this from nearly the beginning," Griselda comments. "Bog was entranced with her and even before she realized that goblins weren't the same as the stories she grew up on, Marianne was entranced with him. A mother knows these things, after all. It just took them three months to admit their love for each other."


	29. Chapter 29

"I'm glad he's enjoying himself now," Marianne murmurs, watching the little imp scurry around with goblins his age.

Bog hums his agreement before sitting on the ground next to his mate and setting the tray of food before them. He laughs as the imp's nose twitches before his ears turn toward them. Within moments, Marianne's lap becomes occupied and begging trills fill the air.

"Alright, Puck," Marianne chuckles. "You did bring enough for all of us, right?"

"If I didn't then I'll just go back for more," Bog remarks, handing her the plate of cooked meat.

Warmth fills his being as he watches Marianne feed Puck pieces of meat. She's such a good mother, so gentle with the young one's fear of taking food for himself with people watching.

It was heartbreaking yesterday when Plum revealed the extent of the poor thing's trauma. They had only wanted to know his age and name but they also learned that the six-summer-old Puck had seen his pregnant mother murdered last autumn for just trying to get food and then he woke up from winter hibernation a few weeks ago to find his father dead from starvation, the elder male having given most of the stolen food to his son. He had barely managed to get enough food without being seen and when he overheard the plan to threaten war on the Light Field, he decided that if they wanted war then he would give them war by making the other kingdoms so angry that they would punish the ones who killed his family.

Puck just didn't expect to be caught. Normal reasoning for a young male, as his mother remarked.

Plum had also revealed that Puck's clinging to Marianne and Bog was his petitioning to them to be his new parents. A revelation that helped when they had to return to the Light Field for the other delegates' arrival that afternoon. The poor thing was bawling when they tried to leave without him, refusing to settle even when they explained that they would be around the Breezy Meadow subjects and would be back that evening for dinner. Griselda had disappeared for a few minutes before returning with a satchel and the pixie handmaidens carrying Marianne's daggers.

The silent threat worked immensely or maybe it was the wicked smile that Marianne wore that dared the Breezy Meadow subjects to do one thing to set her off. Vincent had barely gotten away with mentioning about an imp's appetite again, to which Marianne pulled out a strip of dried meat from the satchel and gave it to Puck, who only ate half before declaring himself full.

He couldn't believe that they never thought that maybe the imps couldn't sustain themselves on the food available in the Breezy Meadow, hence why they had to eat a lot of it to survive. Once the imps traveled there and were forced to spend the winter, they couldn't leave because they didn't have the energy to. Puck had only managed to leave the Breezy Meadow because he stowed-away on one of the pack rats.

A whole clan wiped out like pests just because they traveled through the wrong kingdom.

"Your growling," Marianne points out. "What's bothering you?"

"Just thinking about how stupid the Breezy Meadow denizens are," he admits. "Not that I'm saying Vincent is like them..."

"Vincent is like an elder brother to me but he is nearly like the others of his kingdom. He just knows very well that the Breezy Meadow will lose the war if one happens between our kingdoms," she chuckles, fisting her hand with a smirk. "The Breezy Meadow may outnumber the Light Field by four-to-one but we're stronger. As he found out when I was six and he was eight. Grandpa and Dad couldn't stop laughing when Mom had to stop a trade meeting to drag me off the bigger-than-me Vincent. He's called me snarky ever since then."

"I'm curious to what the fight was about," Bog chuckles.

"I can't quite remember what it was but I'm very sure it was about females being unable to fight or something like that. Which is ridiculous since both his mother and Vesper commanded an army. Although, now that I'm thinking about it, I've never seen either of them touch a weapon," Marianne mutters.

"You don't need to be able to fight to be able to command an army," he mentions. "As for the threat of war, I think your comment to the Breezy Meadow delegates has sufficiently kept them from ever entertaining the idea ever again."

Bog joins Marianne in her laughter at the reminder. At least the fools had started the conversation before the other delegates arrived but it was still a mistake to even bring up their concerns of war between the two kingdoms. Before Vincent even had the chance to rebuke them, Marianne told them bluntly that it would be a war between three kingdoms because the Light Field would be defended by the Dark Forest. Both fairy and goblin royal guards didn't help matters when they offered their agreement.

The funniest part came just before they returned to the Dark Forest when the Shallow Cove ambassador mentioned about how unusually docile and polite the Breezy Meadow delegates were being.

"Did you manage to speak with Ambassador Aquanna this morning about Lizzie?" Bog questions.

"Yeah. She accompanied me and the other females during the sunrise dancing in the Light Field," Marianne answers. "We first talked to Lizzie before she went to sleep and Ambassador Aquanna says she knows the type of reptile Lizzie is and where she belongs. So, after the trade meetings are all done, Lizzie will travel with them to the Shallow Cove and then she'll be able to find her way home from there."

It is good news but he'll kind of miss the large creature. If it wasn't for her, they might not have been able to find each of the potion's victims in time to stop anything damaging from happening before the potion wore off last night and they might not have caught Puck without killing him.

Puck purrs as Bog reaches over to scratch the top of his head.

"I also talked to Yemma this morning at the Sacred Spring," she continues.

"What? Marianne," he murmurs worriedly.

"It's alright. I know we were going to let Griselda handle the matter since she agreed with Dad's suggestion but I didn't feel right not trying to talk to her myself," Marianne admits. "I also wanted to make sure to get rid of any ill feelings before the purification bathing, so I took her aside while the fires were being kindled. I even followed the laws of judgment and included the elders and Lyla as witnesses and counsel."

"What happened?" Bog asks.


	30. Chapter 30

Marianne sighs at the question and takes a bite of food to delay her response. Even after hearing the other female's bitter defense, she couldn't help but feel remorse for Yemma. She couldn't imagine the pain of losing the one you love, especially while pregnant and then giving birth on the anniversary of your love's death.

Sighing again at Bog's prodding, she reluctantly repeats the events to him. Including Lyla's hesitant mention that Yemma hasn't been taking care of the infant unless she's there, though she just thought Yemma was tired.

"What did your judgment counsel suggest for Yemma's punishment since she did show disrespect, not just once but twice?" Bog asks after a moment.

"I told them that I would talk to you before passing punishment because the disrespect was shown to you first," Marianne comments. "I don't think we should punish Yemma the normal way, though. She insists that she is fine but it's clear to those that really know her that she isn't. Junco even said that this sometimes happens after a female gives birth, whether there is a tragedy or not."

"Spoken like a just ruler," he praises, kissing her forehead. "Let's talk to Junco in the morning to see what she suggests to do."

"I had planned on talking to you after the purification baths but we haven't exactly had a moment to be able to talk about it," she mentions, grinning at his groan.

It has been one long day. First, she had to go to the Light Field long before sunrise to join all the females there in the traditional sunrise dance. Remus had joked that Marianne was getting two purification baths when she realized that the dance was to cover them with the morning dew. It didn't stop the female goblin from asking to participate when Marianne explained that the dance within the dew was for a blessing in an increase of sexual attractiveness, youthfulness, and to clear skin problems.

When she returned to the Dark Forest, she accompanied the females here to the Sacred Spring...after calming the worried Puck who was left in Bog's care both times. She had performed the blessing ritual without any trouble once everything was ready.

Then she helped with the preparations for the mating ceremony and the festival while the males were getting their own purification baths. They enjoyed a nice lunch with a reminiscing Griselda who revealed Bog's mishap twelve Beltanes ago when he accidentally caused several goblin pairs to have a failed mateship hunt when he overzealously attacked a hungry frog that wandered into the hunting glade. Bog had quickly dragged her away before any more anecdotes arose and a clingy Puck was firmly latched onto her tunic when they both took off to the Light Field to view the Spring Ball.

What was supposed to be just showing Bog the traditions of fairy courting turned into consoling her overwhelmed father when Dawn announced Sunny as her intended. Not that he had anything against it but he's still adjusting to one daughter being married.

"What are you laughing about?" Bog questions.

"My poor dad who's bemoaning losing his little girls," Marianne replies, taking a bite of her honey and blackberry jam cake.

"I still can't believe he didn't expect Dawn's announcement after that love potion fiasco," he laughs.

"You ever had one of those times when you wanted something so badly that you couldn't believe it when it finally happened? That's what happened to Dad," she comments. "He had stopped hoping for Dawn to realize that Sunny was in love with her and to choose him. I mean, after all, all her crushes were only male fairies."

"How did Dawn not know that Sunny loved her? I knew it after only a few times of meeting them together," Bog mutters.

"She has a gift of obliviousness. By the way, you didn't have to choose that one just because I made it," Marianne remarks, pointing to the boutonniere on his chest. "It's hideous and I know it. I've never been able to make a boutonniere as good as Dawn can."

"I don't care what a traditionally good boutonniere looks like. This is perfect, Marianne. The one Dawn made to substitute is...lovely," he gestures, grimacing at the memory of the bright boutonniere. "It didn't fit me, though. This one fits me, with its mottled leaves and twigs and dark color flower petals. It makes me think of the forest. Besides, do you really think those bight eyesores she gave Sunny would fit me?"

Even Puck cackles at that memory. The elf didn't get just a yellow boutonniere, as is customary for a female fairy's court, but Dawn also made him a yellow flower crown and a yellow flower necklace. No one could mistake that the younger fairy princess is serious about her best friend being her intended, though Dagda insisted they abide by the traditional period of courting for one season before the wedding. Dawn had no choice but to agree when Plum added her own insisting in the form of cursing their firstborn if the younger sister followed her elder sister's impetuousness.

Puck shakes his head at another offer of food before standing up and rubbing his face against Marianne's neck. She giggles at his show of affection and returns the gesture. She smiles fondly as Bog and Puck do the same thing before the little imp runs off to join the other children again.

The miniature horde's newest game of trying to get past Brutus and Gus to approach the two bonfires sends the ashed remains of the flower petals used in the mating ceremony into the air. Marianne sighs in contentment as she watches the ashes fly away and she curls up closer against Bog's side.

Her husband hadn't mentioned that he also wanted them to participate in the mating ceremony, so she was taken by surprise when Elder Jawal ushered them with the others as the sunset drew near. She almost swooned when Bog admitted why he had asked Elder Jawal to include them to re-say their acceptance vows. He explained that overhearing Alexander's cruel remarks was what first gave him the idea, as a way to show all the kingdoms, including their own, that it doesn't matter how their mateship started because they did want each other now. Then after their conversation yesterday, he thought that this would be a good way to show everyone that they had wanted this mateship from the beginning.

Funny how Plum being Plum had helped them overcome that one thing they hadn't fully talked about yet and revealed a truth that both of them had forgotten. They were both too willful to subject themselves to something they detested even for the good of the kingdom. Had either of them not wanted the other then they wouldn't have become mates, simple as that.

She knows for certain that had that been Roland who fostered himself, she would have screamed her head off before removing his head from his shoulders without any thought to the consequences. Bog admitted himself that had she been a different opponent, he's sure that he wouldn't have shown mercy when he gained the upper hand.

They did have a choice and they chose each other.

"What do you say about abandoning the festival?" Bog asks.

"I'd love to, Bog, you know that, but with Puck being so worried about us rejecting him, I don't think it'll be a good idea for us to have sex until he's more settled," she comments. "After all, he's likely to come search for us."

"Such naughty thoughts my queen has," he chuckles. "As lovely as that sounds, that wasn't what I had in mind."

"Really?" Marianne questions skeptically.

"Really. I was thinking that we test how well you spar with your new sword," Bog remarks, nodding to the weapon laying against his royal scepter. "After worrying the swordsmith into being afraid that she wouldn't be able to keep it a secret from you, you should at least do something with it instead of gazing at it."

Flicking his nose for his cheekiness, Marianne turns her attention to Bog's gift for her, far better than the boutonniere she gave him.

The polished blade is much like the one the swordsmith had done on her first sword with gold etched into the steel near the crossguard but the hilt is far different. The first difference is the gold-overlaying the decorative crossguard, not the bright gold of the Light Field but the same dull gold adorning her husband's own weapon. The pommel is also overlayed with dull gold as it spirals from the black grip to curve into a hollow orb encasing a large amber.

She hadn't thought anything strange about it when they stopped at the swordsmith's shop on their way home after the Spring Ball, figuring that Bog may have wanted to know when the swordsmith would be able to make her new sword. Marianne hadn't suspected anything even when the swordsmith announced that she had finished her earlier work and brought out the leather-wrapped weapon. But then the swordsmith handed the unwrapped sword to her before remarking that it's definitely a weapon fit for a ruler of the Dark Forest just as Bog commissioned. Puck had screeched his complaint as he got squeezed between them when Marianne threw herself against Bog, the sharp weapon flailing dangerously in the air.

"It is beautiful," Marianne murmurs.

"Not as beautiful as you," Bog comments before giving her a kiss. "Shall we dance, my queen?"

Tea Blend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marianne's feelings toward Roland had he attempted what Bog had done is inspired by NekoChan16's comment on Chapter 5 of Wild Desire. I couldn't resist envisioning that scenario lol.


End file.
